California DUI Lawyer Expands Services to Additional Northern California Counties

The California based DUI defense firm of Robert Tayac has expanded its services to clients in the Northern California counties of Santa Clara, Sonoma and Napa. According to the information at http://www.californiaduidefense.com/ the Law Office of Robert Tayac accepts only driving under the influence cases and has been providing the highest quality representation available to those accused of DUI in the courts of San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo. According to Mr. Tayac, the reason for the expansion is simple – those accused of driving under the influence have requested our help.

Mr. Tayac goes on to say that Santa Clara, Sonoma and Napa counties have some of the strictest DUI penalties in California. Law enforcement officers of the California Highway Patrol, local police agencies and county sheriff's departments have collaborated with the District Attorneys of these three counties to strictly enforce the DUI laws and prosecute residents and visitors for driving under the influence and for driving with a breath or blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more.

What's more, every DUI arrest initiates a second case against the driver's license of the person accused. This second case is before the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The driver facing a license suspension must actively pursue a defense or their license will automatically be suspended for a minimum of four months.

If both cases are won by the county District Attorney and California Department of Motor Vehicles, a driver will at a minimum suffer a misdemeanor conviction, be sentenced to work on a modern day chain gang, be placed on probation for three to five years, suffer a driver's license suspension, face mandatory attendance at a California drunk driving school, disclose the conviction to the family automobile insurance provider, and pay steep fines and penalties.

The drivers who stand accused of driving under the influence are not criminals. For the most part they are upstanding citizens who vote, pay their taxes and the salaries of the very people who have arrested and will prosecute them. What the police and prosecutors often don't themselves know and don't want the driver arrested for DUI to know is that frequently the evidence used against those arrested for DUI is not solid.

California drivers are regularly stopped for little or no reason and are made to perform embarrassing exercises along the roads and highways of our state in full view of their neighbors. The first thought of anyone passing a driver alongside the road performing these so-called sobriety tests is that the person was driving under the influence. More often than not, however, the California Highway Patrol officer, local police officer or county deputy sheriff was incorrect and the citizen is sent on their way.

The error of the law enforcement officer is revealed only after the citizen has been made to perform the full complement of embarrassing exercises and blow into an optional preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) device. If the device indicates a breath alcohol level below the limit, the citizen is typically allowed to leave. After all, California law does not prohibit driving after drinking some amount of an alcoholic beverage.

Rather, the law prohibits drinking an unknowable amount of an alcoholic beverage which reveals a breath or blood alcohol level at or above 0.08 percent. Notably, the time for the breath or blood test is selected by the law enforcement officer and may be any time within three hours of actual driving. Also notable, the breath and blood machines are maintained by those working for law enforcement agencies.

In the minority of cases where the officers are right and they have stopped a person who has drank enough to place them at or above the legal limit, the citizen will be made to go through the formalities of performing calisthenics for the sole purpose of getting the driver to blow into preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) device typically maintained by a law enforcement officer working for the same agency as the investigating officer. What the police seldom tell the driver is that performing the exercises is not required, nor is blowing into the preliminary alcohol screening device. The only obligation the citizen has is to submit to an evidential breath or blood test.

Notably, the evidential breath test results are based upon a flawed legal assumption. That assumption is that the results of the breath test will yield the same result as a blood test. However, frequently this is not the case. Moreover, the accuracy of the breath test machines cannot be tested by independent laboratories because most companies which manufacture the devices sell them only to law enforcement agencies. This prevents validation or criticism of the method by which the breath sample is analyzed.

However, a citizen may assert the right to a more familiar and seemingly more accurate blood test. Notably, a sample of the blood is retained and may be retested by an independent laboratory. However, the driver will be required to pay for the privilege of a blood test with a mandatory stay in the county jail, regardless of their guilt or innocence.

For these reasons, the Law Office of Robert Tayac represents those accused of driving under the influence or driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more before the courts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties. Additionally, the firm represents those accused in California Department of Motor Vehicle driver's license suspension hearings. If you have been arrested for DUI in California, you should visit http://www.californiaduidefense.com/ to get helpful information about your rights.