Recently in Felony DUI Category

An Aurora man faces up to 28 years in prison in connection with Los Angeles Felony DUI charges that left two of the passengers in his car dead. Thomas G. Ofenloch, 25, pleaded guilty to two aggravated Los Angeles Felony DUI charges that stemmed from an accident August 4, 2007.
The high-speed accident killed Andrew Berger, 21, and Josh Sutton, 21, both of Geneva, dead.  According to authorities, Ofenloch's 2007 Nissan Sentra was travelling at more than 100 mph when he drove it through a T-intersection and into a field. The car became airborne and struck a tree.  Berger, the front-seat passenger, was wearing a seat belt, but the force of impact literally split the belt and he was ejected, the prosecutor said. Ofenloch managed to escape with only minor injuries.

The Los Angeles Felony DUI accident happened about 2:50 a.m. Earlier that night, the three men had attended a party where all three men had allegedly been drinking. According to party attendees, Ofenloch was in the worst state of the three men before they left.

A witness said that she tried stopping them before they left, but they dind't listen to her pleas.
Ofenloch had a previous run in with the law when he was arrested for DUI just five weeks before the fatal accident.  Under state guidelines, the Los Angeles Felony DUI sentencing range could include anything from six to 28 years in prison with the possibility of probation.
Ofenloch's sentencing is set for April 26.

Unfortunately, Ofenloch's case isn't an isolated one; in fact, DUI deaths occur all of the time. Once a Los Angeles Felony DUI arrest has been made, you should always contact an attorney team to help you protect your rights in court. An experienced and professional Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team will aggressively fight on your behalf to avoid fines, jail time, community service, and probation. The professional Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP work closely with their clients in order to find problems within the prosecution to reach a fair outcome for their clients. If you find yourself in a DUI criminal offense case and need a solution to reduce or dismiss your case, contact the professional Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP at 1-877-781-1570 or visit our site at www.keglawyers.com for more information on the DUI process, arrests, charges, penalites and how we can help you if you've been charged with one.

An Atascadero man facing DUI and hit and run charges is expected in court Tuesday morning.

Back in January, police say Douglas Inglish caused two crashes on the Central Coast.  The first crash was at Highway 1 and "San Jacinto" in Morro Bay.  The second, was at Los Osos Valley and Turri Roads in San Luis Obispo.

Douglas B. Inglish, 19, was driving recklessly on U.S. 101 and SR 41 on the central coast in a 2004 Mini Cooper. He drove south on 41 to Morro Bay, north on the 1 to Cayucos and south again back to Morro Bay where he caused a collision on the 1 at San Jacinto and a second crash on Los Osos Valley Road and Turri. His Mini Cooper ran off the road after the second crash and Inglish took off running across the north and southbound lanes of the 101 through fast-moving traffic. It was here where officers located him and took him into custody.

At some point, Inglish stopped at Cuesta College and tried to steal some stuff from a convertible. The owner of the car yelled at Inglish and he dropped the stuff and took off.
He was arrested on suspicion of a variety of charges, including DUI, hit-and-run and reckless driving.

In California, you have only 10 days after being charged or arrested with driving under the influence to request a department of motor vehicle hearing to avoid losing your driving license or other driving privileges. A first time DUI hit and run charge can result in a suspension of driving privileges for 4 months if you are 21 or older and 1 year if you are under the age of 21. Subsequent arrests result in longer periods of suspension, in accordance to the severity of the DUI incident.

A DUI hit and run charge can have severe consequences associated with it; driving privileges can be revoked, a DUI stays on your record, colossal court costs and restriction on driving privileges are just some of these consequences.

If you feel that you were wrongfully arrested and/or accused of a Los Angeles DUI, you need a knowledgeable Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team on your side to protect your rights. The Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team at Kestenbaum, Eisner& Gorin, LLP has more than 50 years of in-court experience and will work on your behalf to possibly reduce the consequences associated with DUI or possibly have the charges dropped altogether.

Contact the Los Angeles DUI defense attorney team at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP immediately at 1-877-781-1570 or visit our website at www.keglawyers.com for more information on DUI arrests/charges and how we can help you after a DUI arrest.

As any Los Angeles DUI defense attorney will tell you, a felony DUI can have severe consequences.  Felony DUI cases ususally portray the defendent as a terrible person, and juries rarely have any sympathy for someone who caused injuries or death via an alleged drunk driving incident.

Toxicology reports from a deadly crash on New York's Taconic State Parkway are drawing outrage as they reveal that Diane Schuler, 36, had a blood alcohol level of .19% and traces of marijuana in her blood stream before causing a collision that left eight people, including Schuler herself, dead.  Officials also report finding a broken bottle of vodka in the backseat of her Ford minivan.  Results of the toxicology tests reveal that Schuler had six grams of alcohol in her stomach that had yet to be metabolized and that she may have smoked marijuana anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour prior to the crash.  Police records indicate that Schuler had called her brother from a rest stop saying she felt ill prior to the crash.  He advised her to wait for him to pick her and the children up, advice Schuler clearly did not heed.

Schuler was reportedly driving home from a weekend camping trip with her two year-old daughter, five year-old son and three young nieces in the car when she was seen driving the wrong way on the highway's northbound lanes before she slammed head-first into an SUV carrying three adult men, all of whom also died.  The lone survivors of the collision were Schuler's five year-old son and the occupants of a third vehicle involved in the crash, who all escaped with relatively minor injuries.  Several family members of the victims are now calling for a homicide investigation, claiming Schuler had alcohol and drug problems that her family knew about and that she may have been driving under the influence of alcohol when she left the campgrounds in Sullivan County, New York earlier that day.  Police are still investigating.

While driving under the influence is a serious criminal offence in and of itself, fatalities occurring as a result of DUI bring on a whole new level of serious consequence as they are charged as a felony DUI instead of a misdemeanor.  Many cases of DUI-related fatalities are tried as vehicular manslaughter, a felony criminal offense in Los Angeles, and can garner up to 10 years in a state prison upon conviction.  The average case of vehicular manslaughter related to driving under the influence of either drugs or alcohol in Los Angeles would be punished by as many as four years in state prison.  In cases of gross negligence or recklessness, such as in Schuler's case where the driver's blood alcohol content was well over the legal limit, as many as 10 years could be handed down as punishment.  With so much of your life and freedom on the line, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney by your side if you are facing a DUI-related criminal charge such as a felony DUI.  Call the attorneys at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP today to start preparing your defense.

Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys know that most DUI crimes are charged as misdemeanors, not felonies.  However, certain Los Angeles DUI crimes are charged as felony DUI and can carry serious, life changing repercussions.  Felony DUI crimes can lead to years in prison, crippling fines, driving restrictions, loss of license and much more.  If you are charged with a felony DUI in Los Angeles, you need a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense attorney.
Felony DUI crimes include:

• Being charged/convicted of your fourth or subsequent DUI
• Being under the influence and getting into an accident which injures someone in the other vehicle

In such cases, you can be charged with manslaughter should there be a death.  In fact, in one such case, a young man's life may pretty much be over due to a felony DUI.
A young man was arrested and charged with felony DUI after hitting and killing three bicyclists, one of whom died at the scene.  The young man was allegedly driving wildly, weaving in and out of lanes, hitting medians, hitting a chain linked fence and then running through an intersection in Santa Clarita.  The young man allegedly plowed into a group of ten bicyclists from Santa Clarita, hitting three of them, and then sped off. 
Police investigated and found the truck with markings that linked the driver to the scene of the crime.
If you or a loved one is facing felony DUI charges, contact the Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP is a Southern California criminal defense law firm that has been rated to be in the top 5% of U.S. law firms year after year, by Martindale-Hubbell, a nationwide lawyer review organization. Our DUI lawyers have over 50 years experience in criminal defense, including felony DUI cases.

In Los Angeles, a DUI conviction will have a serious impact on your life.  However, all Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys know that a felony DUI will have an impact on almost every area of your life for a long time.  Felony DUI's happen all the time, but can often be tracked to specific weekends.
Holiday weekends are full of people drinking at parties then driving home.  This last Memorial Day weekend was no exception.  Two Montana men were charged with felony DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) this past week, one after a collision with a tree and the other after being pulled over by Montana Highway Patrol troopers.  Eric Lee Sowders, 29, was arrested on Saturday a short distance away from the tree he allegedly ran his Mazda SUV into.  Witnesses to the accident reported to troopers that a second car stopped at Sowder's wreck shortly after and pull a child from the Mazda before driving off.  Sowder's 3 year-old daughter is thought to have been in the car with him at the time of the collision.  Breath samples provided by Sowder estimated his blood alcohol concentration to be .252%, well over Montana's legal limit of .08%.  Sowder is reportedly a convicted felon with three prior DUI convictions since 2000.  He was charged with felony counts of both criminal endangerment and driving under the influence, as well as one misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license.  
Jeffrey A. Loofburrow, 55, was arrested last Friday after reportedly driving his car into a ditch.  A Montana Highway Patrol trooper at the scene smelled alcohol on Loofburrow, who refused a breath test but later admitted to having consumed several alcoholic drinks.  Loofburrow had also been convicted of three prior DUIs and had not had his driving privileges reinstated since 2003.  Loofburrow was charged with one felony count of driving under the influence and misdemeanor counts of driving with a revoked license, driving without insurance, expired registration and reckless driving.  
Montana state law and penalties are different, but here in Los Angeles, felony DUI offenses and those related to them are taken very, very seriously.  In Los Angeles, having multiple prior DUI convictions, having a child present in the car while driving under the influence, having a blood alcohol concentration over .20% and refusing to submit to chemical testing can all seriously raise the stakes and take what might have been a misdemeanor offense up to a felony.  In Los Angeles, felony DUI convictions can follow you around for years, making it more difficult for you to find a new job or place to live.  
A felony DUI conviction also almost certainly means spending time in a state or county jail as punishment.  If you are being charged with driving under the influence, call the attorneys at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP today.  You do have options.