Actress Lindsay Lohan reacts to her sentencing earlier this week.

Lindsay Lohan to Serve Jail Sentence

“All good things must come to an end.”  Lindsay Lohan has learned this the hard way.  A Los Angeles Superior Court judge found her guilty of violating her parole stemming from her brush with the law in 2007.  Lohan had been ordered to attend an alcohol treatment program after she plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of Cocaine and two counts of driving with a BAC of over .08.  Los Angeles County prosecutors had originally sought a month long jail sentence for Lohan, but Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel had other plans.  After Lohan gave a tear-filled apology to the court, Revel said she “found the apology insincere, similar to someone who cheats and thinks it isn’t cheating if she doesn’t get caught.”  (Associated Press)

Lohan was not detained following the sentence, but she must surrender to the court on July 20^th, 2010.  Lohan will not be ordered to wear her Scram Bracelet in the days before her surrender.  In 2007 Lohan served 84 minutes in Lynwood Jail, where she will serve this new sentence.

If a police officer pulls you over on suspicion of drunken driving, the officer will likely try to perform a test that will provide evidence that you do, in fact, have alcohol in your system.

There are two main ways an officer can test to see if you have been drinking—having you blow into a Breathalyzer or taking a blood sample. You often have the option of choosing one or the other, although police may or may not tell you so.

It is advised that you always choose the Breathalyzer test, as these devices are not 100 percent accurate, and it is easier to discredit a DUI charge when the only proof an officer has that you were driving while impaired is the results of a Breathalyzer.

In addition to being properly trained on administering breath analysis by a Breathalyzer for DUI convictions, there are many criteria required of an officer before his or her readout from the machine can be considered accurate. Finding a missed or inaccurate step in the process is often a simple way for a trained DUI defense attorney to have this data removed as evidence from a DUI trial.

If you can prove that you were not driving under the influence despite registering a BAC of .08 percent or more, you may avoid conviction of DUI. This is where the services of a highly-educated defense attorney will prove invaluable to you. He/She will have the experience to challenge breathalyzer tests that may have a 20 to 30 percent margin of error.

However, the converse is also true. If the state can prove that you were impaired despite registering a BAC below .08 percent, you may be convicted of drunken driving. Again, this is why you need to hire the best possible DUI lawyer that you can.

If you do opt to give the officers a blood sample, all is not lost.

When you are arrested and during the process of your arrest, the police must notify you of your right to an independent blood test and make reasonable efforts to accommodate you after your request.

Upon your release, find a medical facility or hospital that will take a blood sample for you. This may be very important evidence in obtaining an acquittal.

Obtaining this evidence on your own can be an invaluable tool in winning your DUI case.

This post was intended to provide general information only and is not intended as specific legal advice. You should not rely upon this information alone, but should consult legal counsel regarding the application of the laws and regulations discussed and as applied to your specific case or circumstance.

Flickr User: old town drafting

It’s most bars’ mission to serve customers with good food and drink while providing a fun and friendly atmosphere. And let’s be honest, it doesn’t hurt a bar’s bottom line to see its patrons indulging in a few too many, ultimately racking up large bar tabs.

But there’s another thing that has been racking up within recent years…and that’s the increase in DUI cases in Arizona.

According to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, DUI arrests were up about 35 percent from 2008 to 2009.

One bar located in northeast Phoenix hopes to be on the proactive side of things, helping promote responsible drinking.

Tilted Kilt owner Kerry Phelps says he’s seen far too many people end up having more to drink than they planned but still feel they are OK to drive.

Which is why he installed an Alco-Checkpoint breathalyzer device in his establishment located at 7077 E. Bell Road.

He hopes the breathalyzer unit will raise customers’ awareness, as well as keep them from driving drunk.

“We want people to have a good time,” he said. “I’d rather be on the forefront of things, and if that affects my business negatively, then so be it,” says Phelps.

Phelps’ decision to install the Alco-Checkpoint could be starting a trend for other establishments to help combat drunk driving.

At this time the Tilted Kilt and The Vine Tavern in Tempe are the only two establishments in the valley with breath analyzers.

Phelps recommends that guests use the machine 10 minutes after drinking or smoking cigarettes in order to get the most accurate reading.

The Alco-Checkpoint device is similar to the hand-held breath analyzers already on the market. While never 100% accurate, if calibrated properly, the device should give a reading accurate within 0.01 of a person’s blood alcohol level.

The blood-alcohol-content reading cannot be used in court, and there is a disclaimer on the machine stating that it is for novelty use only.

The Tilted Kilt knows that their device can’t be the be-all, end-all say in whether a person should drive or not, they hope it promotes a positive message…the message of “Don’t drink and drive.”

The Alco-Checkpoint device is an entertaining machine that emulates responsibility, and may be coming to your friendly neighborhood bar soon.

This post was intended to provide general information only and is not intended as specific legal advice. You should not rely upon this information alone, but should consult legal counsel regarding the application of the laws and regulations discussed and as applied to your specific case or circumstance.

Because a person’s blood alcohol content (BAC) varies based on so many different factors (i.e. weight, muscle mass, recently consumed food, etc.), it’s hard for people to really ever truly know just how much alcohol is affecting their bodies on any given occasion.

That sounds all fine and dandy and it seems that owning a Breathalyzer can be a wise decision. In fact, owning a Breathalyzer may land you the MVP title because everyone will come to you and want to test their BAC levels before deciding to drive or catch a ride home.

So it seems like a no-brainer to have this device as an efficient and smart way to measure your BAC levels, but you want to know if consumer models are accurate and reliable.

While breathalyzers have certain levels of accuracy, they are generally not accepted as a completely accurate way of measuring a person’s blood alcohol content. Therefore, trust should not be placed in any Breathalyzer that a person is below any legal limit, or is “sober.” Breathalyzers can be misused, misread, and miscalibrated—consumer models as well as the ‘more professional ones’ police use.

Develop realistic expectations about the accuracy of breathalyzers and from there, determine whether purchasing one is still something you feel is a wise move.

Flickr User: Morgan.Davis

Depending on how much you plan to rely on a Breathalyzer and how accurate you want it to be, you can decide to purchase an inexpensive Breathalyzer, or a more expensive model. You may find that a cheap Breathalyzer, with a higher tolerance of error suits your needs. The least expensive breathalyzers start at around seventy dollars. There are more expensive breathalyzers available, with a greater degree of accuracy. More expensive breathalyzers analyze the breath sample more thoroughly, and usually have more advanced sensors. These breathalyzers cost anywhere between 120 to 200 dollars or more.

If you decide you want to purchase one, a good place to start looking at breathalyzers is www.breathalyzer.net. Many of the models sold there have been FDA approved, are DOT-approved and many law enforcement agencies use these testers for preliminary screening of DUI suspects. These breathalyzers offer many benefits, including low cost, low power consumption and small size.

This post was intended to provide general information only and is not intended as specific legal advice. You should not rely upon this information alone, but should consult legal counsel regarding the application of the laws and regulations discussed and as applied to your specific case or circumstance.

This blog entry should not be construed as a way to “cheat the system” or determine how much alcohol you can drink before you drive. The fact is, no alcohol should be consumed before you drive because even small amounts of alcohol can lead to terrible results including accidents and arrests.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a general overview of blood-alcohol content (BAC) for different types of drinks and body weights so that you can understand the “general” effects of alcohol on the body. Keep in mind that everyone is different and many factors affect your BAC, including the amount of food and water that you consume, etc.

For the Arizona Department of Public Safety chart above, one drink is considered to be any of the following: one 1-ounce shot of 86-proof liquor, 3 ounces of wine (which is a very small glass of wine) or one 12-ounce beer. Also, this chart assumes that a person is drinking and absorbing the amount of drinks on the top row (1 through 9 drinks) at about the same time.

Obviously, a person that weighs only 100 pounds will need to drink much less alcohol than someone who weighs 200 pounds to be “presumed under the influence.” In fact, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s chart, a 100-pound person would need to drink only two drinks before they “may be impaired,” and only three drinks before they are “presumed under the influence.”

According to FORCON, a forensic consulting company, during typical social-type drinking, “the highest BAC is usually achieved within 30 minutes after completion of consumption, though it could take as long as 60 minutes. When large amounts of alcohol are consumed over a short time interval, or when a large quantity of food is eaten with the alcohol, the absorption phase may not be complete for up to two hours after last consumption.”

Therefore it’s no surprise that Arizona DUI law mandates that the highest BAC be considered “within 2 hours of driving.” Importantly, most people absorb about only .015 grams of alcohol per hour – the equivalent of less than one drink per hour for most people.