Richie Sambora agreed to a plea agreement with prosecutors just hours after he had been formally charged with driving under the influence in California. The deal calls for Sambora to plead no contest to driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit. In exchange the district attorney dropped the more serious charge of California DUI. The distinction between the charges is that having a blood alcohol content above .08% is a machine measurement whereas DUI is a more subjective analysis of a driver’s ability to operate a vehicle.

Sambora must also complete a three month alcohol awareness class and pay court fees. He is prohibited from having any measurable amount of alcohol or drugs in his system while driving during his three probation term.

The 48-year old guitarist for the rock group Bon Jovi was arrested for drunk driving in Laguna Beach, California on March 25. His BAC was reportedly .13%. Because Sambora’s daughter and another child were in the car at the time of the arrest, police requested that misdemeanor charges of child endangerment be filed. Prosecutors however said that there had to be additional aggrevated circumstances to make that case.

If you have been charged with Driving Under the Influence in Orange County, California (VC 23152) you will need to hire a Laguna Beach DUI lawyer.

The prosecutor of Clay County dismissed several cases of driving while intoxicated in Minnesota after it was learned that police used an out of date breath test solution. The expired solution could have resulted in inaccurate blood alcohol content.

Officers at the Moorhead Police Department assumed an extra box of solution was new when it fact it had expired six months earlier. The solution was shared with state police and county sheriff

A former Seattle police detective pleaded guilty to two counts of driving under the influence in Washington. Last year Deana Jarrett was arrested for DUI twice in two days. Jarrett, now 55, was charged with drunk driving in Redmond, Washington on April 10, 2007. She crashed into two cars the following day and was charged with another DUI offense. At the time she held the record for the highest recorded blood-alcohol content with a reading of 0.47%.

The guilty plea entered into King County District Court was related to those two arrests. Jarrett also had her probation rescinded for yet another drunk driving offense, meaning she will likely face 30 days in jail for that prior arrest. A sentencing hearing will be held June 13.

Jarrett was a 20-year veteran with the Seattle police department. She later worked at Sea-Tac Airport for the Transportation Security Administration.

If you have been arrested for DUI in King County, Washington you will need to DUI lawyer in Seattle.

Actress Sandra Bullock was involved in a traffic accident with a motorist suspected of drunk driving in Massachusetts Friday night. Bullock, and her husband Jesse James, were being driven in a rented black SUV in the Gloucester area around 10:00 pm when another motorist swerved into oncoming lanes. The chauffeur attempted to avoid a collision but was struck by a vehicle driven by 64-year old Lucile Gatchell, Gatchell registered a breath-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit and was charged with operating under the influence in Massachusetts.

Another motorist was dialing emergency services to report an erratic driver just before the crash. No one was injured in the accident. Bullock is in Massachusetts filming ‘The Proposal”, starring herself, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson.

If you have been charged with an OUI in Massachusetts you will need to hire a DUI/OUI lawyer in Massachusetts.

There has been an increase in the numbers of sober drivers being falsely charged with driving under the influence across the United States. Despite laws that establish a blood alcohol content for intoxication at .08%, law enforcement agencies in several states, Ohio in particular, have adopted a zero tolerance position on alcohol. Both Maryland and the District of Columbia have criminal drunk driving penalties for motorists with a BAC under the legal limit. Drunk driving is a serious issue though the effort to make the streets safer has lead to many innocent drivers being caught up in a legal nightmare.

A man from Corvallis, Oregon is one such case. Brian Noakes was charged with suspicion of Oregon DUII after a traffic stop for having bloodshot eyes. He explained that he had a cold though the police officer was convinced that he was driving under the influence. While being arrested, Noakes wife asked what was happening and police threatened to Taser her. A breath test showed that Noakes had no alcohol in his system and a urine test came back negative for drugs. The district attorney declined to prosecute the case though Noakes will continue to have a permanent arrest record for drunk driving.

Washington, like several other states, does not allow arrests for traffic offenses, including driving under the influence, to be removed or expunged from a person

Dontrelle Willis, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers major league baseball team, pleaded guilty to reckless driving in Florida court.

Willis was initially charged with Florida DUI in Miami Beach in December 2006 after police found him double parked in his Bentley outside of a nightclub. He reportedly had watery eyes, slurred speech and appeared confused.

Prosecutors offered the reduced charge after negotiations with Willis

Oregon DUII at police station

The United States Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that driving under the influence is not equivalent to violent felonies. That means that convictions for DUI do not warrant enhanced prison sentences during the penalty phase of criminal cases.

Whereas the justices agreed that drunk driving can result in bodily harm and death, they found the offense to be different from crimes with purposeful action, such as murder or rape.

The ruling stems from a case involving a New Mexico man with an arrest record for drunk driving. He was found guilty of possession of a gun, which was illegal because of his felony DUI conviction. The prosecutor attempted to invoke the Armed Career Criminal Act to increase the defendant

The state

State representative Joe Boylan was charged with driving while impaired in North Carolina after wrecking his Ford truck Thursday evening. Highway Patrol reports that Boylan crossed the center line on a rural road in Moore County, drove off the left side of the road and struck a tree in a ditch. A blood alcohol test was completed at the scene though the results are not known. The Republican lawmaker received minor injuries and was treated at a local hospital.

Boylan said that the incident was a