Tag Archives: DUI/DWI


Drunk Driving Is Not an LIO of Gross Vehicular Manslaughter
March 9th, 2021

The defendant in People v. Machuca (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 393, 397 contended that his drunk driving convictions should be dismissed because VC 23153 (drunk driving) is a lesser included offense of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (PC 191.5, subd. (a)) when the offenses arise from a single incident. The reviewing court rejected this argument because […]


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Defense Theory: BAC of Less than 0.05% Warrants Rebuttal Presumption That Defendant Was Not Under the Influence
November 27th, 2015

VC § 23610(a)(1), provides “[i]f there was at that time less than 0.05 percent, by weight, of alcohol in the person’s blood, it shall be presumed that the person was not under the influence of an alcoholic beverage at the time of the alleged offense.” Thus, there is a statutory presumption that a defendant was […]


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Presumption of Intoxication: Expert Testimony
November 23rd, 2015

The evidence must support the permissive inference to authorize instructions on it. Therefore, unless an expert explains how the later tests could be consistent with a BAC of 0.08 percent at the time of defendant’s stop, there may be insufficient evidence to support the instruction. (See People v. Beltran (2007) 157 Cal. App. 4th 235, […]


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Voluntary Intoxication Resulting in Unconsciousness Instruction Not Applicable To Second Degree Murder Due To Drunk Driving
January 20th, 2014

  People v. Ferguson (2011) 194 Cal. App. 4th 1070, 1082, held that although voluntary intoxication resulting in unconsciousness will normally reduce second degree murder to involuntary manslaughter, it does not do so in the context of drunk driving because the manslaughter statute states it is inapplicable “to acts committed in the driving of a […]


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