www.bortelduidefense.com
Law Offices of Aaron Bortel
4040 Civic Center Drive
Suite 200
San Rafael, CA 94903
650 5th Street
Suite 508
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (415) 886-6333
Text: (415) 799-3419
From day one of 2021, when the law changed to allow diversion to be granted by a judge over an objection from a prosecutor, San Francisco has been the leading county in granting these cases. It’s the only county I know of, where the District Attorney (DA), on a first offense driving under the influence (DUI) case, will typically not object to a diversion.
To get the diversion, an attorney must know what they are doing, and the client must do several things to qualify – a lot of self-help work. The judge that has been in the master calendar in the misdemeanor department has been very open to diversion. The judge has been very thorough, researching each case in-depth, and has been very impressive.
I hope the other courts and DA’s offices see what’s been going on in San Francisco. It’s my understanding, the recidivism rate for DUIs has gone down. There have been a few cases where they have had repeat offenders, but not like in the past. From what I’ve seen, typically those repeat offenders have been public defender clients who either have not had the tools or resources to do all the self-help work and counseling that they need.
In San Francisco, the diversion program is working. This is what the legislature wanted to see happen when they created this modification to allow judges to grant diversions over a DAs objection. Things may change in San Francisco and other Bay Area counties if the diversion law gets modified or changes. Also, as different judges in San Francisco start hearing these motions, they may have a different take on them than the judge who has been doing them in 2021.
Alameda County continues to grant DUI diversions, especially if someone is a first-time offender, under a 0.15% blood alcohol content (BAC) with few egregious facts in the case.
Sonoma County has been granting some diversions on DUIs. Of San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, and Sonoma Counties, Sonoma seems to be the strictest of the four. They have several judges addressing these cases and there seems to be inconsistency. Unfortunately, a lot of how your case comes out will depend on which judge your case is in front of.
If you get a DUI in Napa, Contra Costa, San Mateo, or Santa Clara County, those counties are not even considering diversion. They are saying judges cannot divert DUI cases, since the legislature did not change one area of the Penal Code that does not allow for it, even though there is a new law.
Those counties are hiding behind that reasoning because they don’t want diversion. What they need to understand is diversion is working. I hope in these counties that the administrators of these courts, judges, and head judges are looking at San Francisco as an example to see that diversion works, and it’s not that hard to implement.
Diversion doesn’t cost that much to implement. Those counties should be saving money from the cases that normally would go to trial that won’t. It’s a win-win for everyone. Looking at the big picture, the goal here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the rest of California, is to reduce recidivism. There are just too many repeat offenders that end up causing serious injury accidents, here and all over the country.
Diversion is working because it encourages people to get help right away, not months or even years later. People are completing counseling and doing programs right away that show they are amenable to treatment. That’s what the legislature was trying to tell us and that’s the answer here in California.
I hope people all over the country are starting to realize diversion can work; it will make every state safer for our friends and family members who are out there on the roads who become victims. Criminal conviction for DUI doesn’t work to reduce DUIs. It’s been proven over and over; the numbers have not decreased.
We are almost at the end of the first year of diversion in counties like Alameda, Marin, Sonoma, and San Francisco. Let’s look at the numbers to see how this has worked and let’s make the proper modifications there.
For More Information About DUI, Please Visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_in_the_United_S.
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