July 2010 Archives

The summer months are considered a dangerous time to drive in L.A, as drivers have greater odds of being involved in an alcohol-related collision, compared to other months. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, there were 7,801 Californians injured or killed in 2008 during the months of June, July, and August. However, LAPD is now trying to reduce the number of drunk drivers on the roads by setting up sobriety and drivers license checkpoints. So far, the police department has set up Los Angeles DUI checkpoints at the following locations this weekend.

• Friday July 30: Slauson Avenue between Buckler Avenue and Edgemar Avenue in Los Angeles, 8:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m.
• Saturday July 31: Cahuenga Boulevard West at Broadlawn Drive in North Hollywood, 8:00 p.m-2:00 a.m.

Actor Chris Klein, who plays Oz in the American Pie series is trying to fight his DUI most recent DUI charge and avoid going to jail. E! Online reports that if the actor is convicted of the drunk driving charge, it would be the second DUI on his record. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DUI charge back in 2005.

How does Chris Klein plan to get out of this legal mess? For starts, actor Chris Klein is seeking both legal help and mental health. He has the high-profile Los Angeles DUI attorney Blair Berk working on his case. Blair Berk has also represented Mel Gibson, Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan and Queen Latifah in their criminal cases. Chris Klein also recently spent 30 days at the Cirque Lodge rehab center in Park City, Utah so that he could stay dry and deal with his alcohol addiction.

Lindsay Lohan is set to be released from jail soon, even though her jail sentence has just begun. The Mean Girls star entered the slammer last Tuesday, but RadarOnline reports that the actress may be out of jail before the end of this month.

But wait, Lindsay Lohan hasn't even spent a week behind bars...Wasn't she sentenced to 90 days in jail? This is probably what many people around are now asking. Due to good behavior, the actress' jail sentence was lowered from 90 days to just 51 days. In California, non-violent female offenders are only doing about 25 percent of their sentence due to jail overcrowding. This brings her sentence down to about 13 days, with the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Office initially saying that Lindsay Lohan would probably be released around August 1 or August 2.

Drivers heading to party in Hollywood this weekend should be on the lookout for sobriety checkpoints in the area. The Los Angeles Police Department has announced and confirmed that there will be law enforcers on the lookout for drunk drivers at the following locations at Los Angeles DUI Checkpoints:

• Friday July 23: Ventura Boulevard between Eureka Drive and Fruitland Drive
  in North Hollywood, 8:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
• Saturday July 24: Sunset Boulevard between Genesee Avenue and Spaulding Avenue in Hollywood, 8 p.m. - 2 a.m.

A judge ruled last week that Andrew Thomas Gallo will have his trial in Orange County, asserting confidence that a fair jury can be selected to hear the matter. Yet many Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys still aren't certain that Orange County residents will ever be able to forget about the intense coverage of the crash that killed Anaheim Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and may question the fairness of his trial.

OC Weekly reports that Andrew Gallo has been accused of killing Nick Adenhart and two other people in a 2009 drunk driving crash. The suspect had a blood alcohol level that was more than three times the legal limit after the crash and also had one prior DUI conviction. The defendant has pleaded not guilty to three second degree murder counts and can be sentenced to 50 years in prison if he is convicted of all the criminal charges. This could be a trial to remember for DUI attorneys all over California.

Lindsay Lohan seems desperate to get out of her jail sentence, but the clock is ticking down and she doesn't have much time to file for an appeal. According to E! Online, the actress has a new lawyer that is supposed to be representing her after Los Angeles DUI Attorney Shawn Chapman Holley stepped down from the DUI case.

Robert Shapiro, who is best known as one of the lawyers that represented O.J. Simpson in his murder trial, plans to be the new attorney for Lindsay Lohan. The lawyer switch will not be official until the judge overseeing the case signs off on the counsel switch.

Los Angeles drivers drinking kombucha tea better watch out! Associated Press reports that some raw forms of the fermented tea have more than 0.5 percent alcohol, which is the legal limit in the U.S. for a drink not to be considered alcoholic.

For the past month, the government has reportedly been testing kombucha to determine if it should be labeled as an alcoholic like beer or wine. The beverage companies say that kombucha leaves the production process with almost no alcohol, but that alcohol can develop overtime in the unpasteurized versions of the drink, where sugars can be converted into alcohol.

A customer at a local Mexican restaurant probably got the surprise of his life when he saw a motorist in a red Toyota Camry driving directly at him. The shocking thing was that the customer was inside the eatery and the car was actually traveling through the glass entrance of the restaurant and into the front counter. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, Central Division arrived at the scene after the accident to investigate.

KTLA News reported that there was a motorist who drove into the El Atacor restaurant in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles last Sunday and that police are now suspecting that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash. The Los Angeles Police Departments says that the incident is still under investigation.

Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley has officially resigned as the attorney representing Lindsay Lohan in her ongoing DUI case, but went out with a bang calling her client's 90 day jail sentence "harsh and unfair," according to New York Daily News.

It's not exactly clear why the Los Angeles DUI attorney has quit the case. Perhaps she's fed up with Lindsay Lohan's behavior and her client not following the terms of her probation or maybe Shawn Chapman Holley just doesn't feel that the actress can successfully appeal the sentence.

For the past few years Los Angeles DUI attorneys have been saying that Lindsay Lohan has been flying under the radar and that she has been lucky to avoid jail after violating the terms of her probation by not attending mandatory alcohol education classes. But now it appears that the actress' luck has run out.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the star of "Mean Girls" has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for each of her three drunk driving charges, totaling her stay to be 90 days in the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. After completing the required jail time, the actress will be required to spend another 90 days in rehab. Because of her celebrity status, she'll be staying in a wing that is separate from the rest of the jail population. Her jail time is slated to start on July 20.

Statistics provided by the California Highway Patrol show that at least 299 people were arrested in Los Angeles County on drunk driving charges over the 4th of July weekend, which could be very disturbing news to some Southern California residents.

KPCC reports that the 299 arrests only cover those made by CHP and not other local law enforcement agencies. The number of arrests also only includes the arrests that were covered from 6:01 p.m. on Friday July 2 to 6:00 a.m. on Monday July 5. It's likely that even more DUI arrests were made on July 5.

America's favorite summer holiday has arrived and many Southern Californians are planning to celebrate with barbeques, parties, and drinking. Yet it's a good idea to designate a sober driver when going out because the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the California Highway Patrol have all announced that they're cracking down on drunk drivers this holiday weekend with Los Angeles DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols.

Through press releases, LAPD has announced that there will be checkpoints in Southern Los Angeles and in North Hollywood. So far, LAPD has confirmed checkpoints at the following locations.

• Friday July 2: Cahuenga Boulevard & Broadlawn Drive, North Hollywood, 6:00p.m. - 1:00a.m.
• Saturday July 3: Florence Avenue between Broadway and Main Street, Los Angeles, 6:00p.m. - 1:00a.m.