Venice Criminal Defense Attorney

For Illustration Only. No Crimes Committed.

VENICE BEACH CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND DUI LAWYER
Venice is an exciting beach neighborhood in Western Los Angeles County.  Located on the Pacific Ocean, Venice Beach is located south of Santa Monica, West of Culver City and Mar Vista, and North of LAX, Marina Del Rey and El Segundo.  With a population of under 40,000, Venice is a popular destination for tourists and LA natives.  Venice Beach, the Venice Boardwalk, Muscle Beach, as well as restaurants and nightlife along the coast or along Abbot-Kinney Boulevard draw visitors, both local and international.  Venice has a large number of independent vendors, street performers and medical marijuana doctors and dispensaries.  The Venice basketball courts are also among the nicest in LA and frequently host events and has been featured in movies like White Men Can't Jump, set in Los Angeles.  Venice has a lot of high-priced real estate, with beautiful, luxurious homes and famous canals behind them.

Venice is home to a wide variety of crimes.  Despite the small residential population and upscale price tag to live in Venice, the large number of visitors Venice brings each day also leads to more crime than other beach towns like Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach.  The LAPD is responsible for law enforcement in Venice and criminal cases are heard at the Airport Courthouse near LAX.  Traffic matters proceed to the Santa Monica Courthouse.  The thriving restaurants and nightlife in Venice, paired with the Los Angeles car culture means a significant number of DUI arrests.  DUI enforcement is tough everywhere, but law enforcement devotes more resources to DUI enforcement where they know drinking and driving are common.

Drug crimes (including marijuana-related offenses) and theft crimes are also quite common in Venice.  Less frequently, there are violent crimes, gang crimes, domestic violence charges, weapon offenses and vandalism.  If you have been arrested or charged with a crime in Venice, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, Culver City, El Segundo or anywhere in Los Angeles, contact the Law Offices of Nicholas Loncar for a free consultation with a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney.

EXAMPLE OF A VENICE BEACH CRIMINAL DEFENSE CASE:
Will has dinner with a friend at a restaurant in Venice, planning to go out to a club in West Hollywood after.  Will's friend lives in Hollywood, and Will will be able to park his car there after dinner, and will not need to drive after drinking at the club.  Will and his friend do share a bottle of wine at dinner, but Will does not feel impaired or unable to safely operate a car.  Will had roughly two glasses of wine, both within the last hour before he drove a car.

On the way to Hollywood, Will encounters an LAPD DUI Checkpoint.  Will is approached by an officer, who notices the smell of an alcoholic beverage on Will's breath.  The officer asks Will some questions about his drinking, and asks him to step out of the car, and he does.  Next, Will is asked to perform a series of field sobriety tests, including the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (an eye movement test), a one leg stand test and a walk and turn test.  Will performs fairly well on the tests, but demonstrated slightly poor balance in his flip flops.  The officer next asks Will to blow into a preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) device, a handheld breathalyzer machine that police use as a sobriety test on the scene.  Will agrees to blow into the device, but the device is unable to register a result after several attempts.

Will is arrested for DUI and submits to a blood test at the station.  Upon searching Will for booking, officers also find a gram of cocaine in Will's pocket.  Eventually, Will's blood test results come back .11.  Luckily, he has a strong Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney / DUI Lawyer on his side to fight for him and assert his rights and defenses.  First, Will might have a strong argument for a PC 1538.5 motion to suppress.  The officer had limited information upon which to reach the probable cause needed to justify a DUI arrest.  Will performed well on the field sobriety tests, did not show a bad driving pattern (checkpoint), and there was no PAS result for the officer to justify his belief that Will was impaired.  The only evidence was the smell of alcohol, and Will's admission that he had a glass of wine.  It is not against the law to drink and drive, so long as the drinking does not lead to an impaired state or a BAC above .08.  If the motion is granted, Will will have both he DUI and the cocaine possession (felony) dismissed!  

If the motion is not granted, he may have to take his case to trial or work out a favorable plea deal.  At trial, Will would have a strong Rising BAC defense.  He drank very close in time to his driving.  This means that the alcohol had not yet taken effect at the time of driving.  His .11 blood test result may be able to accurately tell the officers what his BAC was several hours after driving, but the government must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a defendant had a BAC above .08 at the time of driving.  This defense, among others, could be asserted at trial or used as leverage in negotiations.  Will's DUI charge can be reduced to a wet reckless and he can most likely get diversion for his drug case, and get the case dismissed after he completes an outpatient drug treatment program.

Being arrested or charged with a crime is scary.  If you have been arrested for DUI, drug possession or any other crime, contact the Law Offices of Nicholas Loncar now for a free consultation with a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer.  We will be able to go through the details of your case and discuss possible outcomes, defenses, and the best way to get you the best possible outcome in your Los Angeles criminal defense case.  Having an attorney who will fight hard for your rights is absolutely essential in your Venice Beach or Los Angeles criminal case.  Hire a skilled attorney with a strong record of success in serious cases.  Our office has managed great results, including dismissals of very serious felonies, as well as plea deals with no jail time and better convictions for employment, immigration and licensing purposes.

Nicholas M. Loncar, Esq. 
Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney
t: 213-375-3775 | f: 213-375-3099
Mobile: 323-803-4352 
NL@iDefendLosAngeles.com
1200 Wilshire Blvd | Suite 406
Los Angeles, CA | 90017
www.iDefendLosAngeles.com

Published By: Nicholas Loncar | Written by Nicholas Loncar

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