Articles Tagged with DUI

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defensive drivingAccording to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about 94 percent of accidents are due to human error. Whether you are a new or experienced driver, it is never a bad idea to adopt a more defensive approach to driving.

The National Safety Council defines defensive driving as “driving to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around you and the actions of others.” The main goal of defensive driving is to reduce the risk of collision by anticipating dangerous situations, despite adverse conditions or the mistakes of others.

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Summer is arguably the best season. It consists of sunshine, road trips, barbecues, and all sorts of outdoor fun. But, it can also bring an increased risk of drunk driving accidents.

Many people are simply more carefree and relaxed in the summer. There is a lot to do and activities such as vacations, holidays, and social gatherings involve the consumption of alcohol. As many of us know, the legal drinking age is 21 years old and the legal drinking limit is .08.

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When many people think about New Orleans and Louisiana, they think about jazz, Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, and Mardi Gras. Fun, parties, and celebration all come to mind, which is very true about the Big Easy. However, with these happy pursuits come the responsibility to party responsibly. Unfortunately, some people do not do so and the result is drunk driving. When a driver makes the decision to drive under the influence of alcohol, causes an  accident and ultimately harms others, the state may pursue criminal charges against the drunk driver. The victims injured as a result of the driver’s poor decision-making may also be entitled to money damages in civil court. If you’ve been hurt by a drunk driver, you should seek the advice of an experienced Louisiana drunk driving accident attorney.

Regrettably, the National Highway Traffic Safety download-9-300x120Administration estimates that drunk driving-related fatalities are on the increase in Louisiana. In one recent year, the NHTSA concluded that almost 250 of the state’s traffic deaths were alcohol-related. That was up from just below 220 only four years earlier. Many times, drunk driving accidents do not cause fatalities but still inflict serious harm. That was the case for one Mandeville woman and her children, who sued after being hurt in a crash on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, nola.com reported.

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Roughly half-way between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a mid-March accident claimed the life of one Louisiana man. That man, a 54-year-old from Holden, left behind a fiancée, a mother, two siblings and many nieces and nephews. He was killed by a driver whom police believed to be driving while intoxicated. Certainly, a DWI that causes injury or death usually will be a criminal matter. However, if you were injured (or a loved one killed) by an intoxicated driver, what you and your family may need is often much more than just the closure that comes from an intoxicated driver’s criminal punishment.

The law gives people injured (and the loved ones of people killed) by intoxicated drivers the ability to seek compensation in criminal court. To get the answers you need and to find how best to go about pursuing your legal options, be sure to reach out promptly to a skilled Louisiana injury attorney.

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At Cardone Law Firm, we believe that people should never be forced to deal with the injuries and costly medical expenses that come with an accident caused by a drunk driver. Unfortunately, drunk driving accidents happen all-too-often in the state of Louisiana. In the aftermath of an accident, innocent victims are left to deal with the consequences.

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When someone engages in improper conduct that injures you or a loved one, you’ll need to clear several hurdles to obtain compensation. Sometimes, the specific hurdles in your case may appear extraordinarily challenging or even impossible. Fortunately, though, many cases provide multiple different avenues for securing a verdict and damages award in your favor. With skilled counsel, you may be able to clear what seem like insurmountable obstacles. A case involving a tragic auto accident from Central Louisiana provides an illustration of this point.
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Drinking and driving occurs all too often, especially in the state of Louisiana. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, more commonly known as MADD, there were 5,339 arrests in Louisiana last year for DWIs. According to a national poll conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana ranks well above average in citizens who report driving after drinking too much. Impaired driving has become a growing national concern over recent years spawning new legislation increasing the penalties for driving while intoxicated. This article will provide you with a overview on a Louisiana DWI and the penalties you can expect to face if arrested for a DWI.

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Each DWI case is unique in its own way. A first-offense DWI charge contains its own set of challenges for the accused driver that are different from those faced by drivers accused of second-, third-, or fourth-offense DWI. In one recent case originating in Jefferson Parish, a man convicted of misdemeanor first-offense DWI lost opportunities to challenge the way the state prosecuted his case because he did not follow the correct court procedures or observe the court rules, which led the Louisiana Court of Appeal to leave his conviction in place.

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The Louisiana Court of Appeal recently refused to throw out a man’s conviction on third-offense DWI despite his arguments that one of his prior convictions should not have counted against him in his current case. Although there were certain things the judge in the previous case did not tell the man about criminal law and trial procedure, none of those pieces of information was required by the Constitution, so the conviction was properly included as part of the basis for the man’s current charge.

Damion Billups’ most recent DWI case began when a state trooper observed him speeding along a rural road in Northeastern Louisiana. When the trooper stopped the driver, he thought the driver appeared intoxicated, put him through some field sobriety tests, and, based on those results, arrested the man for DWI. The state charged the matter as a third-offense DWI, since Billups had two previous DWI convictions, one each in 2008 and 2010. The driver challenged the charge brought against him, arguing that his 2010 plea was unconstitutional and that this offense should not count against him. After the trial judge concluded that both prior offenses were validly counted against the man, Billups entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to one year of hard labor.

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The Louisiana Supreme Court recently upheld a driver’s conviction and sentence to 25 years of hard labor for DWI, fourth offense, even though the jury in the driver’s trial consisted of only six people. The high court’s decision clarified that, in situations like this, when the driver’s mandatory hard labor sentence only arose from a multiple-offender sentencing enhancement, and the crime charged on the original indictment contained a range of possible sentences both with or without hard labor, the trial court’s empaneling of a six-person jury was not an error and did not require giving the driver a new trial.

The events leading up to this decision started with a traffic stop in Bogalusa in 2011. A state trooper pulled over a pickup truck that had been weaving erratically down the road. The driver, Gerald Dahlem, smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech, and displayed glassy, bloodshot eyes. A blood alcohol level test revealed that Dahlem’s BAC was .180.

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