South Carolina Criminal Attorney Blog

The 57 year old mayor of Brownsville, Pat Ahumada was arrested yesterday in the early morning hours for Driving Under the Influence after the police saw driving a car erratically.

The mayor was released on a $3,500 Personal Recognizance bond. When offered, her refused the breath test.

When asked about the arrest by the newspaper, he said that he has regrets, but didn't admit to anything.

This is not his first time down this road. He was arrested in 1987 for a Driving Under the Influence charge in which he ended up pleading guilty on and received six months probation. Nor is it his first time as a defendant. Stemming from a city check ending up in his personal checking account, he went to trial just this past March and was acquitted. He was also tried on other accounts related to the account, in which he was also found not-guilty.

A man in San Rafael who has eight prior DUI convictions was convicted of second - degree murder last Thursday for kiilling a child in who was in a crosswalk while riding his motorcycle drunk. It took the jury less than four hours to reach a verdict. No doubt his prior DUI arrest and conviction history played an important role in the verdict.
Despite years of fines, over fourteen total years on probation, many revoked licenses, various treatment programs and numerous trips to jail, none of those experiences was enough to prevent him from racing through a stop sign that night when he took the life of a child who was walking across the road.

Here in Myrtle Beach and the rest of Horry County, not to mention the entire State of South Carolina, have more than our share of Felony DUI cases. Its not quite murder, but its pretty bad. A felony driving under the influence is when someone satisfies all of the standard elements of a DUI case, but also causes either substantial bodily injury or death. The sentence for substantial bodily injury is up to 15 years and up to 25 for causing a death.

This isn't just someone who happened to be a drunk driver and also murdered someone. But rather a drunk driver that was convicted of murder as a result of driving drunk.

That is how bad these cases can get when things become extreme. In June of 2009, Jason Pappas of Cathedral City, California, crashed the car he was driving after an intense police chase. The passenger, Gregory Fisher, died of blunt force trauma.

Just two years earlier, Pappas pleaded guilty to a DUI and therefore knew only too well the dangers of driving under the influence, argued the Deputy District Attorney, Grant Kim. He was also convicted of a California law called, Driving with a Blood-alcohol Level Greater than 0.08. That is a law that is designed to create enhanced penalties for the more severe DUI cases. South Carolina doesn't do that. Here in SC we have one DUI statute with varying penalties depending on the blood alcohol content and whether it's a first, second, third, etc., offense.

In the case at hand, Pappas testimony showed he had 13 drinks before he got in the car and drove, said the prosecutor. When tested following the crash, his blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent. That is more than three times the legal limit.

After police observed Pappas speeding, they attempted to pull him over. Rather than stop, he took off and a chase began. Pappas was seen weaving in and out of traffic lanes for a number of miles. Testimony given at trial said he was going over 90 miles per hour. It was when the defendant attempted to make a left hand turn when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree. The passenger, Gregory Fisher was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The lawyer for the defense, argued that his client was guilty of manslaughter and wasn't guilty of second-degree murder. He supported his argument by trying to show that the defendant did not have any intentions to hurt anyone. It turned out he was driving the victim's car after the victim had asked him to drive. The lawyer argued that he truly believed that he had the faculties to operate the vehicle safely. The defense attorney also tried to show that Pappas didn't have as much to drink as the prosecution said and that he actually only drank five to six rinks and had two shots of Jack Daniels whiskey over a 12 hour period. In the defense attorney's closing argument, he stated that his client felt that night that it was safer for him to driver, than the victim, Fisher.

Pappas has not yet been sentenced, which will be a separate proceeding. He could be sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for this conviction, of second degree murder.

These cases involve different laws in different states. This shows some of the possible laws involved in California when a DUI case becomes extremely serious. Other states also have manslaughter, reckless homicide and others that can come into play. Here in Myrtle Beach, we certainly are not immune to these sort of cases either.

In February 2009, South Carolina enacted a new DUI law that increased the stakes for people convicted of Driving Under the Influence. As previously stated, the new DUI law has increased penalties based on how high the defendant blew on the Breathalyzer and how many DUI convictions the individual has had in the past. At sentencing, the judge is allowed to and will consider other things about the case and the defendant and those circumstances can greatly affect whether the defendant goes to jail and if so, for how long. The new law in SC broke the Breathalyzer results into three categories. First, for anyone who blew 0.10 or less; two, for those who blew 0.10 to 0.16; and three, for those who blew in excess of 0.16. To illustrate how severe these can be, someone convicted of Driving Under the Influence Third Offense could be fined up to $10,000 and go to prison for up to five years.

South Carolina still has its Felony DUI statute, which is for cases in which someone incurred great bodily injury or death. A conviction for great bodily injury, the sentence carries up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. For a death, they face up to $25,000 fine and up to 25 years in prison.

A group of people gathered at the Justice Academy where South Carolina future police officers are trained, and drank vodka. It was all part of an exercise to help the students learng to administer field sobriety tests and figure out if someone is drunk or not.

The subjects of the drinking experiment were made up of news reporters, a law enforement officer and some of thier friends. One lady participant, who was of average size and middle aged, registered a .039 after just one vodka drink and on an empty stomach. She then registered a .053 after her second and then a .063 after her fourth.

It was explained by the instructor that eating makes a gigantic difference. They also explained a few of the common myths surrounding attempts to sober up that just don't work. For example, drinking coffee, large amounts of water and taking a cold shower, just do not work. A drunk's only friend when trying to sober up is, time. And obviously, the more you have drank, the more time you will need.

After her fourth drink, she registered a .096. Other participants had much different results. One person who weighed 217 pounds, was a mere .074 with five drinks, while another one who weighed 175 pounds reached .110 after the same amount of drinks. And yet a very small woman gave a reading of .089 after just two drinks. The point is, what people register can greatly vary from person to person.

Another thing that was explained was some DUI statistics as SC is compared with the national average. In SC, 51 percent of car accidents in our state are alcohol related, while the national average is 40 percent.
And, South Carolina ranks number two in the country with alcohol related deaths. Just as staggering was that SC had 300 people murdered last year. However, there were 900 people who lost their lives to drunk drivers.

I guess I could call it, "DUI Week on my blog." Since I seem to be devoting a lot of time this week to writing about DUI's, it seemed incomplete if I didn't do an article about another alcohol driving offense that is not quite the same as Driving Under the Influence. Here in South Carolina we have an extremely close charge called. Driving Under an Unlawful Alcohol Concentration. Its called DAC for short.

DAC has penalties very similar to that of a DUAC. Of the cases I see here in Myrtle Beach and Conway, only a small percentage of them are DUAC and the vast majority are DUOS cases.

The elements for proving a DUAC are less then that of a DUAC. Basically the prosecution has to show that the person was driving, a motor vehicle, and the they registered a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. Heavy fines, jail time, high risk insurance, and so forth are just as likely with these as with the normal DUOS.

The Code of Laws for SC states certain requirements for a conviction on DAC. First, the breath test must have been administered within two hours of the driver being arrested. There must be what is called, "articulable cause" for the police stopping the driver. That word has its own legal definition. The defendant's arrest must have been lawful. That sounds silly, but that is what it says. The written testing procedures must be provided to the defendant. He/she must consent to the breath test. That means that they cannot force a person to take the test. As said earlier the results must be 0.08 or more. The administrator of the testing has to be qualified pursuant to certain qualification requirements as set forth in the Code of Laws. The same testing procedures for the typical Driving Under the Influence charge must still be followed. And lastly, the Code states that the machine was working properly.

Quite a bit of what the code dictates for a DUAC is the same as for a DUI. And I have to admit, some of these things really do sound ridiculous to be in the law. Since the code is so specific about these requirements, they are things that the defense attorney should always consider when representing someone charged with this.

A lot of the other aspects of a DUAC and a DUI are the same. Such as the right to have a blood test taken and the obligation of the police to give some assistance in that happening. The assistance doesn't in reality amount to much more than providing transportation to the nearest medical facility. If the police to not lend the assistance as required, then that would amount to the breath test results being inadmissible at trial.

There are other aspects of a DUAC and a DUI that are the same.

Man arrest in for DUI driving a horse and buggy

This is a good example of how Driving Under the Influence arrests extend to just about anything other than a car. The DUI statute here in South Carolina, and I assume all states, makes specific reference to operating a "motor vehicle." But the courts over the years have expanded that to include just about anything that can be, "operated" and moves. In Conway, SC recently a person was arrested on a bicycle and in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a lady was arrested for operating a golf cart under the influence.

In the horse and buggy arrest, it was an Amish man that was arrested in Lancaster, PA this week. A breath test of the driver resulted in an alcohol content of .18, which is considered quite high. The Amish prefer horses and buggies as their main form of transportation and in that part of the country its not uncommon to see them on the roads.

When you stop to think of the legislative intent behind the DUI laws, that is to protect people and keep the roads safe, it only makes sense that judges have extended the "motor vehicle" requirements to include anything that travels. I recently posted an article that made reference to a man that had mounted a motor to a bar stool and was arrested on that. I suppose it would be very unlikely that such a vehicle would pose much of a danger to the public, but its certainly possible that the driver himself could be injured.

I've seen or heard of cases where Driving Under the Influence cases involved jet skis, lawn mowers and even airplanes. For the defense attorney on these type cases, their jobs are basically the same and the same types of defenses are used. And the prosecutor's job is pretty much the same as well.

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Recent DUI's in Myrtle Beach, Horry County and around the country.........even attorneys and prosecutors charged

Since DUI's are so common, especially with the holidays rapidly approaching, I thought I'd summarize some of the more noteworthy ones both locally and around the country.

In Rhode Island this past week a federal prosecutor was arrested and plead not guilty on a DUI charge. He was originally charged with a law they have in that state for refusing to take a chemical breath test and not charged with a DUI. Suspictions arose that maybe he was not originally charged because of who he was. The DUI stemmed from being pulled over on Thanksgiving for erratic driving, at which time he told police that he has too much to drink. The local police and the Departement of Justice are now investigating the incident.

In Vermont, the state auditor plead guilty on last Thursday to Drunk Driving and paid almost $900 in fines and court costs. The auditor, Tom Salmon, was in the news last year when he was deployed to Iraq while he was running for a second term in office.

In Honolulu the police have started putting DUI mug shots on their web sites. This has cause a stir with those who feel it will cut down on drunk drivers out on the road versus those who feel it may violate constututional rights of those who have not been convicted yet. In the middle are those who say that this is public information and has been put on TV and in newspaper for many, many years.

On a silly note, the motorized bar stool that a man from Ohio received a Driving Under the Influence on hit Ebay this week. The driver, Kile Wygle was arrested in March and ended up pleading guilty. Just prior to being arrested, he lost control and crashed contraption. At the time of his guilty plea, he owed approximately $37,000 in non-paid child support and the judge commented that whatever amount its sold for should go towards the grossly overdue child support. The stool was seized by the county.

Here in the Myrtle Beach area, Horry County has been no exception with officials being in the news for DUI related matters. Atlantic Beach mayor Retha Pierce was arrested a while back for Driving Under the Influence. I don't recall reading whether she has a lawyer on that. Nor do I recall if she had an attorney on her Trespassing and Disorderly Conduct charges stemming from an incident last January, which just happened to have been dismissed last month when the arresting officer didn't show for court. On her DUI charge, she apparently said that she had independent tests done that showed that there was not alcohol in her system, which is consistent with a SLED urine test that indicated the same results.

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