Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: dui

Miranda rights and the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Basically, the Miranda case affirmed a person's right against self-incrimination - you can't be forced to testify against yourself. Therefore, once an arrest is made, arresting officers must read you your rights; otherwise, whenever statements you made thereafter is inadmissible in court.

However, in DUI cases, most of your statements are actually made before an arrest. Thus, your statements are not made in violation of Miranda and admissible against you.

The legal definition of probable cause is when the facts known to the arresting officer would lead a man of ordinary care and prudence to believe and conscientiously entertain an honest and strong suspicion that the person is guilty of a crime. In other words, does the officer a reasonable basis for believing that you committed a crime.

If you are trying to get the police report yourself, you must go to the district attorney's office and request it (fill out a form.)

Feel free to contact me with any other questions that you may have.

Re: dui

You are facing 90 days mandetory jail time. Call me directly at (619) 222-3504.

Re: dui

Thank you for your inquiry.

Typically, in a DUI case, the main evidence is observations by an officer (non-verbal), and scientific evidence. The remedy for not giving miranda warnings is exclusion of an admission, confessions, or damaging statements, so it doesn't help as much in a DUI case even if miranda warnings were not given.

Probable cause is defined by the US Supreme Court as "an articulable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring, has, or will occur."

For a CHP report you can, of course, contact the CHP office that prepared the report. I believe you will find that a criminal report may not be released to you unless there was an accident, as there are certain duties of protection that the officers and other witnesses or victims have against retaliation. The law requires the DA or a court to release the report to an attorney for redacting of this information before it is released to you.

I hope that this answers your question, but if you need further information, have other questions you need answered, or feel that you need legal representation, I am happy to help in any way that I can. Please feel free to email me directly at [email protected].