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11 Year Prison Sentence for San Diego DUI Driver

A 52-year-old San Diego man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for running over a woman in his car while he was driving drunk San Diego and then fleeing the scene.

In an emotional setting, Bruce Hanson apologized in court to the mother and two sisters of the 35-year-old victim Alejandra Vasquez of San Diego. Hansen called his decision a “horrible decision” that he made that evening and panicked he left the scene.

Vazquez was killed in the early morning hours on February 19 when she got out of her car and was reaching for an item in her backseat when she was struck by Hansen’s vehicle traveling between 40 and 50 mph.

At the time, she was on her way to work as a catering truck driver for a local lunch service.

The very next day Hanson was arrested at his home. The San Diego DUI attorney advised that San Diego police were alerted when the owner of a vehicle that looked to be damaged was dropped off at a salvage yard without its license plates. They were able to use the cars identification number to track it back to Hanson.

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San Diego Lawyer Turn Their Attention to Medical Marijuana

A growing trend seems to be in effect that San Diego Dui attorney are choosing to focus their law practices on legal issues surrounding medical marijuana.

A veteran lawyer in San Diego, Jeffrey Lake, whose law practice has previously focused on real estate and mortgage lending is beginning to turn to medicinal marijuana cases.

In addition to Jeffrey, Lance Rogers, Michael Cindrich, and Kimberly Simms, have become part of an informational medical marijuana bar in San Diego. These lawyers work almost exclusively on civil and criminal cases often dealing with very complex issues surrounding the legal use of marijuana as a form of medicine.

Perhaps they are focusing on medical marijuana because San Diego is a county that has a strong reputation for taking the side against medical marijuana in California. The San Diego district attorney has aggressively pursued cases against those who have been operating medical marijuana collectives, contending that they were not complying with state law and instead illegally engaging in drug sales. To contact a San Diego DUI defense attorney you can visit us here.

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E-mail Notification Plan for Sex Offenders Moves Forward

Rather sooner than later San Diego County residents can be expecting e-mails in their inboxes letting them know when that state updates its listings of registered sex offenders in their area.

San Diego County supervisors voted to move forward with a one-year highlight the program that will notify residents by e-mail when there has been updates to the states may give law website regarding local sex offenders in their area. It is estimated that about 4000 registered sex offenders live in San Diego County, and officials estimate that about 500 of those are under supervision.

A San Diego DUI attorney advise that the e-mails County residents would receive will include a link to the website that lists where registered sex offenders are living as well have additional information.

The sex offender e-mail notification program is estimated to cost about $20,000 for the initial setup and about $2400 per year to operate. Funding sources are now being sought.

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San Diego DUI Checkpoint Grant Accepted by Escondido

A new San Diego DUI checkpoint Grant has just been approved by the Escondido city Council. However, Olga Diaz, Councilwoman, it’s still questioning the effectiveness and costs the DUI checkpoints bring.

Public debate has been prompted recently I asked and he does a DUI checkpoints because they can include drivers license checks. Many activists have claimed that these license checkpoints are simply traps for illegal immigrants, however the police say the Czechs have actually resulted in a decrease in hit and run accidents.

Diaz did it point how that this year’s $268,000 grant is smaller than that of last year’s which was just over $300,000, however questions whether or not it was more effective for police to conduct additional saturation patrols rather than adding more DUI checkpoints. Checkpoints cost more than twice the amount of a saturation patrol according to the Escondido police Lieut. Tom Albergo.

The most recent grant will provide funding to staff about 15 San Diego DUI sobriety checkpoints and about eight saturation patrols according to Albergo. this grant will also be used to operate stakeouts, warrant sweeps and repeat DUI offenders.

Even a local San Diego DUI lawyer agrees that they have a remarkably compliant community when it comes to driving under the influence.

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Victim’s Family Shows Forgiveness for Accused Driver Arrested in San Diego DUI Accident

57-year-old Anthony Guarino who was allegedly drunk when he crashed his BMW into a line of cars at a busy North County intersection, hitting and killing a Rancho Bernardo man, has remained in custody of the San Diego police on a $100,000 bail due to the situation.

Mr. Guarino was booked by the San Diego police on three felony counts after the San Diego DUI crash that happened around 9:15 PM Friday on Camino Del Norte at Carmel Mountain Road.  65-year-old Marc Durham was killed when his 2002 Toyota was rear-ended and forced into nearby cars, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office.

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San Diego DUI trouble for Vincent Jackson of the Chargers

Just this past Friday Vincent Jackson, wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers, stated that he was ready to sit out for the entire 2010 football season if he could not get a contract he agreed with.

It has come to light that Jackson is looking for a five-year deal worth $50 million with 30 million guaranteed. While the Chargers offered Jackson a one-year tender at $3.268 million. To this point Jackson has refused to sign the tender and is holding out until further notice.

Calm June 15 Jackson’s tender was reduced to $583,000, and on August 20 Jackson was moved to the roster exempt list and if he signs he will be suspended for the first three games of the 2010 season.

To make matters worse, Jackson has already been suspended for the first three games of the season by the NFL office because of a DUI in San Diego. Jackson pleaded guilty to the San Diego DUI case which was his second San Diego DUI since 2006.

Fortunately at the time Jackson had a good San Diego DUI attorney to take care of his DUI case. Now, it is up to him and the Chargers to come to an agreement on this coming 2010 football season.

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Facing DUI? How to Combat Breathalyzers and Field Sobriety Tests

As any skilled DUI attorney knows, the most important decision they must make in a case is choosing what defense to present. Because, once a defense is presented, it tends to be very difficult to present a different one if the jury is unimpressed by the first. Once the DUI attorneys first argument is made, […]

As any skilled DUI attorney knows, the most important decision they must make in a case is choosing what defense to present. Because, once a defense is presented, it tends to be very difficult to present a different one if the jury is unimpressed by the first.

Once the DUI attorneys first argument is made, the following arguments must remain consistent and support the main argument. If a San Diego DUI Attorney fails to do this, they can come across as being sneaky or unorganized.

It is never a wise choice to argue that your defendant was hardly over the legal limit, as this tries to make room for a gray area when one does not exist. You are either guilty or not guilty, and the jury will determine which one you are. You cannot be “a little bit” guilty. If this is your approach, it would be a better idea to negotiate a bargain with the prosecutor rather than taking your case to trial.

In a similar vein, do not try to argue that the defendant did not realize they were over the legal limit, as it is irrelevant.  As a helpful side note, it is not a good idea to refer to the breathalyzer device as either an “instrument” or a “machine” as both of these terms are associated with accuracy in the mind of the jurors.

It is much wiser to argue that the breath testing device does not give completely accurate results, as breathalyzer devices do not directly measure blood alcohol, but rather give an estimate of BAC based on the concentration of alcohol in a persons breath. The fact is, this will vary greatly between people, as one the breath of one individual can contain much more alcohol than the breath of another with the exact same BAC.

When battling a breathalyzer test in court, it is usually wise to use more than boring and scientific terms like “margin of error.” A much more effective technique with the jury can be to give them the results in a possible range. For example, when an individual drinks X number of alcoholic beverages, their blood alcohol level can register anywhere between Y and Z. This will be much more easily understood and more effective in court. Another important tip is that it is usually unwise attack the arresting officer as a liar unless you have proof. Many jurors will be skeptical of such a claim.

Another good point to note, is rather than attacking the police officer’s integrity, it is a better idea to discuss the correct breathalyzer procedures and show to the jury how the police officer didn’t follow them. As an example, regulations provide that the officer should observe the driver for 15 minutes prior to administering the breathalyzer test, because if the driver has consumed certain foods or burped, the test can give an incorrect reading and actually show higher results than are true.

It is critical to drive home the point that breathalyzer equipment and field sobriety tests frequently show a false positive, and are definitely not perfect. Convincingly arguing the fallibility of sobriety tests and breath testing devices can be a useful tool to instill reasonable doubt in the mind of the jury.

Are you trying to find the best deal on a San Diego DUI attorney, then visit www.sandiegoduiattorneynow.com to find the best advice from a skilled San Diego DUI Lawyer for you.

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