5 Tips to Help Avoid a DUI Conviction

If you are ever arrested for drunk driving (also called DUI for "driving under the influence" or DWI for "driving while intoxicated"), your experience will begin with an officer stopping you because of some questionable driving pattern, or possibly because you encountered a DUI "sobriety checkpoint" or you were involved in an accident. The officer will approach your car and ask some questions. You will then be asked to perform "field sobriety tests". He may also ask you to breath into a handheld device, technically called a PBT or "preliminary breath test". You will then be arrested. On the way to the police station, you will be asked to submit to a breath or blood test -- and told that if you don't, your driver's license will be suspended.

What should you do and say during all of this to minimize the risk of a criminal conviction and a license suspension?

1. Politely decline to answer any questions without an attorney present. It is a cardinal rule in legal circles that only incriminating statements are included in police reports and later testified to in court; statements pointing to innocence are invariably ignored, forgotten or misinterpreted. Bluntly put, whatever you say will almost never help you and can only hurt you.

2. Decline to take any so-called field sobriety tests. These are theoretically intended to determine impairment, but in fact are designed for failure. In most cases, the officer has already made the decision to arrest and is simply going through the motions and gathering further evidence to bolster his case (he is the one who decides whether you "pass" or "fail"). In almost all states, you are not required to submit to this "testing". It's unlikely that taking it will change the officer's decision to arrest.

3. Decline to take a "PBT" (preliminary breath test). These handheld units are carried by officers in the field to help decide whether to arrest or not and are notoriously inaccurate. In most states, drivers are not required to submit to these tests (in some they are required if you are under 21). Although most states admit the results of these tests into evidence only to show the presence of alcohol, some permit them to prove the actual blood-alcohol level.

4. Do you choose blood, breath -- or refuse to take any chemical test? This is a case-by-case decision, and involves a number of considerations. First, although blood tests are subject to many possible errors, they are generally more accurate than so-called "breathalyzers"; if you feel your blood-alcohol level is below .08%, then you might want to choose the blood test. Secondly, whether to submit to testing at all requires some knowledge of your state's laws -- specifically, the consequences of refusing. If the increased criminal penalty and license suspension do not outweigh the possible benefit of depriving the prosecution of blood-alcohol evidence, then you may wish to refuse. Bear in mind that the prosecution will charge you with two offenses, DUI and driving with over .08% blood-alcohol; without a blood or breath test, he cannot prove the .08% charge, and there will be no chemical evidence to corroborate the officer's testimony. You should also realize that in many states chemical evidence of a very high blood-alcohol level, say over .15%, can trigger more severe penalties.

5. In almost all states, your driver's license will be immediately suspended if either (1) the chemical tests results are .08% or higher, or (2) you refuse to submit to testing. You have a right to a hearing to contest this administrative suspension, and there are many possible defenses, many of them technical in nature. This hearing is usually separate from the criminal proceedings, and involve different procedures and issues than in court; it is not uncommon to lose the criminal case but win the suspension hearing. However, as most motor vehicle departments do not really want the time and expense of providing these hearings, they tend to provide notice of the right buried in fine print given to arrestees. The critical information is the requirement that an actual demand for the hearing must be made by the arrestee -- usually within ten calendar days. If you do not contact the DMV within ten days, you lose all rights to a hearing -- no matter how good a defense you may have. Tip 5: Get an attorney right away, or make the call yourself -- and make sure you can later prove you made the call within the ten day window!

Lawrence Taylor is a former prosecutor, Fulbright professor of law, and author of the standard legal textbook, "Drunk Driving Defense, 6th Edition". He is the senior member of an AV-rated law firm of Los Angeles DUI lawyers practicing drunk driving defense exclusively.

Exceptional Circumstances in Automobile Accident Cases

Not everyone may be aware that litigation processes for automobile accidents are not that simple. Although some cases are already cut and dried, and no extraordinary or exceptional issue ever comes up, most cases still involve complicated matters.

These are but some of the automobile accident cases wherein exceptional circumstances tend to make the whole litigation somewhat set hurdles for the victims involved.

Auto accidents involving leased cars - there is a ruling that when a leased vehicle is involved in an accident and there are credible evidences to show that its operator is at fault and is going to be responsible for the victim/victims of the accident, the owner of the leased vehicle also becomes a responsible party.

The issue involved is that the owner becomes responsible for the negligent actions of his/her vehicle's operator, especially when he/she has permitted the vehicle's use by the operator.

This issue becomes an extremely significant issue whenever the liable party's vehicle is leased.

Nowadays, many motor vehicles, like cars and trucks, are being driven on the roads, of Los Angeles County, for example, based on a lease system. An experienced and efficient lawyer on auto accidents litigation would not just be contented with knowing the name indicated in the registration papers of the vehicle. He/she will also delve deeper and find out if an exact owner exists.

Doing this is important, especially in cases of big corporations leasing vehicles. Usually the vehicle's registration is just simply named after its driver. However, the real owner of the car, truck or otherwise is a large corporation with infinite and substantial insurance coverage.

Auto accidents involving business vehicles - in a hubbub place like the Los Angeles County, there seems to be no space for a slowing down or sleep for the people. It seems that all day round, everyone is busy with work, and thus, everyone is along the roads with their cars and other vehicular means of transportation.

Most of these vehicles, even if there is no indication of it, are being driven for business purposes. In automobile accidents, this kind of matter is an important thing to research about.

Most vehicle for business purposes do not care for announcing that they are on business as such, if you have been involved in vehicle accidents, an expert auto accident attorney would know how to dig for hidden facts or facts that are not obvious or readily available.

Knowing if the vehicle at fault is being driven for business purposes at the time of the accident is important information. The employer/company of the vehicle's driver can be declared as "vicariously liable" for his/her or their employee's negligence in driving their auto while on duty.

This fact must be fully explored especially for severely injured victims whose damages incurred have exceeded the insurance declared on the company vehicle.

Auto accidents involving vehicle defects - any vehicle accidents wherein the main cause is the actual vehicle's defective parts and design must be thoroughly investigated. The vehicle's manufacturer or parts manufacturer can be held liable for these circumstances.

Meanwhile, there is also liability for the road/highway's improper and poor design, maintenance and construction.

Other circumstances wherein other significant liability issues may arise:

- Poor lighting

- missing or misplaced signage

- improper striping of passing lanes on the roads

- Utility poles or trees that is too close to the roadway.

- other roadway blocks and obstructions

- other highway or road defects

Other exceptional and extraordinary matters arising in automobile and other vehicle accidents involve the seatbelt laws and DUI/DWI laws of the state where the accident occurred.

These are significant issues that only auto accident lawyers with considerable experience can analyze and explore further. If you are a victim, make sure that the lawyer you have retained is digging deep into your case and is working for deserving compensation for you, according to the circumstances.

Our professional Auto accident lawyers Los Angeles County are recognized experts in handling and representing auto accident claims and lawsuits in LA County.

5 Characteristics of Great Online Niches

If you've studied online marketing for any amount of time, you know the frustration involved in finding a great niche market to promote. I've noticed all the gurus can tell you everything you need to know, except what to sell. It makes sense I guess, if they told you the best niches then they'd have to kill you. Well, I'm no guru, but I can give you some tips to help narrow down the sea of possibilities to a manageable amount. First, a couple of thoughts to keep in mind: Think about taking a large piece of a small pie. At least starting out. Once you've mastered a few small markets then you can try to rank #1 for "Los Angeles DWI Attorney". (That's a joke, by the way!) Next, think about being a Specialist as opposed to a Generalist. Consider doctors for example. Which makes the most money, the Specialists or the Generalists? Aim to be the brain surgeon for your niche and you'll have a leg up on the comp. So, here we go:

1. Find a niche with a good selection of merchants. Translation: don't put all your eggs in one basket. Merchants can halt affiliate programs whenever it's convenient for them and they usually don't get your permission first. It's a lot easier to switch a campaign to another merchant or network than to start a new campaign from scratch.

2. Try to find niches where it's clearly advantageous to purchase online. Most people prefer Instant Gratification, so find products (ebooks, audios, etc) or services (file sharing sites, meeting software, etc.) where the buyers can have immediate access. Don't try to sell log splitters online (trust me).

3. In line with #2 above, market things that are only available online. You can't get free shipping for an online backup service. And that's a good thing. Remember, IG!

4. Look for a niche that has lead/trial offers. It just makes sense that people are more willing to try a product for free, or give an email address, rather than give you their credit card number. You should expect conversion rates for leads and trials to be around twice that of regular purchases. More conversions, more cabbage!

5. Find products or services that save people money, or even make them money. People historically are willing to pay more for something if they think it will save them money over time. And don't forget, time is money, so emphasize that with your ad copy. This characteristic is the foundation of the "make money online" gurus, right?

So , there are five good ways to filter your niche ideas to give you a better chance at finding a profitable niche from the get-go. Try quantifying your niche by giving it 1 point for each of the 5 characteristics. If your niche scores a 4 or 5, then chances are you can make it work, with the right ad copy and landing pages. If you'd like to find some potential lead/trial niches, go to Commission Junction (cj.com) and click Get Links --> Advertiser List and type "lead" in the search box, then click on the Lead column header to sort the payouts from highest to lowest. But wait!, this works for individual categories also. And in case you're wondering, it's pronounced "nitch" west of the Mississippi and "neesh" on the east side. Happy nitching.

Mitch Moville explains: "5 Characteristics of Great Online Niches". Find out how to greatly increase your chances of success online, especially if you're just getting started. Learn more at: http://www.terrydean.org