Gas prices have hit historical highs and it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get much relief this summer. While there isn’t anything you can do that will lower the cost per gallon, you can alter your driving habits so that you get the maximum...

In a perfect world, you have great neighbors who you not only like and respect but who are also willing to step up and lend a hand whenever needed. The problem is that we don’t live in a perfect world. While some of us are...

Finally! It’s graduation season. For many students and parents, this is a day they’ve been waiting for their entire lives. They’re finally putting high school behind themselves once and for all and allowing themselves to focus on the future.If you’re a graduating senior or someone...

No one likes DUI checkpoints. Not only do they make many of us nervous, even when we haven’t been drinking. There’s just something about getting caught in a checkpoint and seeing a police officer walking towards us that tends to activate a guilt complex, they also drastically extend the length of time it takes you to get from Point A to Point B.As irritated as you might be that you were caught at a DUI checkpoint, you shouldn’t expect the state to stop using them anytime soon. The purpose of the checkpoints is to reduce the annual number of deaths and injuries that are the direct result of drunk driving incidents. As long as the checkpoints continue to catch drunk drivers, they will remain an issue you’ll have to deal with when driving in California.Many people have protested that DUI checkpoints are illegal, that they’re a form of entrapment. The issue has even made it all the way to both the California and Federal Supreme Courts, who ruled that the checkpoints were legal.There are some rules that they must follow when the highway patrol sets up a California DUI checkpoint. These rules include:
  • Arranging things so only the supervising officers are in charge of operational decisions;
  • Establishing completely neutral criteria for drawing motorists into the checkpoint.
  • Making sure the checkpoint is set up in a location where the supervising officers can reasonably expect drunk drivers to pass-through
  • The checkpoint is safe and all safety protocol is being followed
  • The is sufficient evidence that the checkpoint will catch some drunk drivers
  • That the checkpoint is organized in such a way that each person is detained for as short a period of time as possible
  • Roadblocks are used to publicly announce the presence of DUI checkpoint

One of the charges that are quite serious but is seldom mentioned is great bodily harm. This is a charge that will usually be paired with an assault charge.Great bodily harm in California is a sentence enhancement charge. It is attached to other charges to give the judge the option of extending the maximum sentence of the other charges. The way this works is that the judge sets a maximum sentence for the first conviction and then adds additional time for the great bodily harm charge. These two sentences cannot be carried out consecutively. The time the defendant must serve for the great bodily harm charge will not start until the sentence for the other charge has been completed.Great bodily harm in California is outlined in California Penal Code 12022.7 PC.For a great bodily harm charge to be added as a sentence enhancement, the victim must have sustained substantial injuries. These must be far more serious than a few scrapes and bruises. The types of injuries that can lead to a great bodily harm charge include:
  • Broken bones
  • Gunshot wounds
  • Severe burns
  • Internal injuries