Interesting article written by Alia Beard Rau and featured on www.azcentral.com discusses how the legislature will be considered two bills that will reduce the overall penalty of a first time DUI.

You can read the article at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/02/10/20110210arizona-dui-bills-first-time-offenders-penalty.html

While passage of either bill would greatly ease the burdens of people convicted of a first time DUI, it does not give a free pass for a DUI conviction, nor do the bills proposed plan on limiting the language of the A.R.S  28-1381 or A.R.S. 28-1382.  Rather the bills look at reducing or making more lenient the penalties associated with a DUI conviction.

The first bill discussed is an attempt at ensuring that the other bill will not be passed.  The first bill, sponsored by Linda Gray, calls for a reduction in time that a person convicted of a DUI would be required to have an ignition interlock devised placed from 1 year to 6 months.  This would be a substantial reduction of the overall fees associated with a DUI conviction.  Currently, it costs roughly $120.00 to install the interlock device and $80.00 a month to pay for the monthly fee for the interlock device.  Reducing the requirement from 1 year to 6 months is thought to achieve the goal of reducing DUI related fatalities and teaching the person convicted of a DUI a lesson for their acts, while also cutting the overall cost almost in half.  The bill’s sponsor believe that this reduction will strike a balance between public safety and cost and I agree.

David Brunell Smith, the other bill’s sponsor, argues that an interlock device is financially unfair to first time DUI offenders.  He has proposed other bills based on financial reasons as well – one to create a house arrest system and one to ease the burdens of work release so that first time offenders do not suffer additional consequences (such as losing their job because of their inability to make their work schedule).

Arizona has some of the toughest law in the nation when it comes to DUI offenses.  If you’re charged with a DUI, it is always a good idea to consult with a DUI attorney to discuss your case.  Call Arizona DUI defense attorney Simon P. Kennedy for a free consultation regarding your DUI charge.  I always provide a free initial consultation to discuss your DUI case.

To see the original article, please visit www.azcentral.com and http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/01/15/20110115Phoenix-fatal-car-crash-into-house-brk.html

There is no reason that this person had to die, and my condolences to the family that lost a loved one today.  There is no reason in the world for a person to be doing doughnuts anywhere near a home, ever.  This fact was evident to the driver who took off and hid before police found and arrested him.

My thoughts and prayers are with a family who lost a loved one too soon.

An Associated Press article in the Arizona Republic’s online newspaper (www.azcentral.com) details a recent case where a driver claimed that he was not drunk at the time he slid off an icy road, but, in order to keep warm while waiting for emergency crews, he began to drink and was legally intoxicated by the time emergency crews arrived on the scene.

You can access the article here: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2010/11/30/20101130dui-case-drunk-to-keep-warm.html

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I just read a fascinating article on Arizona Central – the online version of the Arizona Republic.  On today’s (November 19, 2010) site, Ofelia Madrid wrote the following article on a change to Scottsdale DUI law and procedure:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2010/11/19/20101119scottsdale-house-arrest-ankle-device-dui-cases.html

While it will never happen, Arizona legislature should give cities and counties the option to suspend ALL jail time under a first offense DUI plea agreement or sentencing order.  It could save the state millions of dollars without really taking away the bite of most of the current elements of a DUI plea agreement or sentencing order, and therefore, not taking a bite out of punishing and preventing DUIs.

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Take a look a recent article in the Arizona Republic. 

http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2010/11/14/20101114phoenix-real-estate-short-sale-flopping.html

I have to say I find the idea that banks are getting upset that real estate investors continue to find ways to profit in a down market incredulous.   If the banks want to authorize a sale of a home for more money than they are willing to accept on a short sale, they should find the buyers and stop trying to hide behind their own ethical blunders.

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A lot of people are confounded by the process of settling insurance claims.  Over the years I have helped numerous people understand how insurance claims work, especially in the context of the personal injury claim.  For the most part, it isn’t rocket science, but the biggest problem I see in people handling their own claims is that they forget that the insurance company doesn’t want to offer you what they are asking for.  They always want to offer less.

Insurance companies spend millions of dollars defending insurance claims with the primary intent to protect their policy holder from an adverse judgment and the secondary intent to spend as little money as possible on a claim.  It seems counter intuitive that an insurance company would spend so much money trying to save money.  What people have to know is that an insurance companies operating budget is different than the insurance policy limits.  That is to say, what the insurance company spends protecting policies and policy limits comes from a different pot, so to speak.

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You’ve been arrested for and charged with a DUI.  You don’t know who to contact and you are looking for an attorney or some type of help.  You see ads online and in the phone books about Aggressive Defense Attorneys and you think they are going to win your case as long as you can pay a $5,000.00 to $8,000.00 fee.  You have started seeing an add online about a DUI Handbook, claiming it will save you thousands of dollars in your case and that you should read it before consulting an attorney.  You talk to family and friends who had DUIs in the past and they all said they represented themselves because they couldn’t afford to hire an attorney.  Well no doubt…who can afford to pay $5,000.00 to $8,000.00 out of pocket for an attorney?

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A fresh start indeed.  Today, my new website is live and, for the first time, incorporates my blog and the blog is visible and accessible from all parts of my website. 

I haven’t spent a whole lot of time writing blog posts, but not that the website and the blog are united I plan on making sure that there is at least one blog post per week on a variety of topics.  However the majority of the blog topics will concern personal injury, criminal defense, and bankruptcy.

Hope you enjoy and find the information useful.

Simon P. Kennedy