DUI DEFENSES THAT WORK!

One of the things that we do, as a DUI defense Attorney, is to make sure that we keep up on any and all changes in the law.  This is critical for defending DUI's as most of the laws that are created usually will work against our clients.  The changes include all new statutory changes but also any amendments to old laws.  It also includes the way the Courts interpret the changes in the old law and the impact of the new ones.  I write about this because recently the USSC (United States Supreme Court) issued two extremely well reason opinions that impact all criminal cases, including all traffic cases and DUI cases.  The first opinion was Washington v. Crawford, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), which strengthen and supported our previously made arguments that the admission of Hearsay evidence may sometimes run in conflict with the Sixth Amendment right of the accused to confront it's accusers (I will tell you at the end how this impacts DUI cases).  Next came Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 577 U.S. __, 129 S. Ct. 2527 (2009), where the Court closed off a gap that was left open in Crawford.  They clearly stated that certain business records can fall under the Crawford umbrella of protection and confrontation is the only solution.  Now, the California Court of Appeals has issued, for the first time in California, an opinion in support of both Crawford and Melendez-Diaz.  The case is People v. Benitez, 2010 DJ DAR 2788; DJ, 2/25/10; C/A 4th, Div. 3, which held that Business Records (hearsay) can sometimes fall under the Crawford Umbrella.

This last opinion is important because up to this point many of the Courts were looked for ways to get around the two USSC opinions - one way to do it was to claim that Business Records (hearsay) evidence was admissible despite the USSC holdings.  Now, Benitez, is controlling on all lower Courts in California.

So, what does this all have to do with DUI's?  Simple, in order to prove a DUI, the prosecution must rely on many Business Records to lay what we call a foundation.  So now, their burden just got harder.  With some exceptions, they must bring anyone who worked on the evidence against the Defendant. Gold in our business!

If you are looking for the best DUI Attorney in California you can call us here: (415) 378-4133

or, you can visit all of our websites at:

www.CaliforniaLegalDefense.com

www.DUIAttorneyinMarin.com

www.TrafficAttorneyinOakland.com