Phoenix DUI Abogados

Denver DUI attorney Jay Tiftickjian was listed in Colorado Super Lawyers Magazine for the fourth consecutive year for DUI defense. He was selected to the Rising Stars list, which is reserved for less than 2.5% of the attorneys in Colorado. Following is the article that appears in this year’s Super Lawyers magazine.

DUI Defense: When Art and Science Collide

Creativity is a necessary skill for a trial attorney, which is why so many trial lawyers have creative hobbies. DUI defense is not only about knowing the law and science in a case, but about how the story is presented. Like playing a song, a trial lawyer must hit the right notes at precisely the right time while simultaneously injecting the appropriate feeling and emotion into the case. For Denver DUI defense attorney Jay Tiftickjian, advocating for his clients’ rights in court is much like playing guitar—he is always prepared and polished and yet able to improvise at a moment’s notice.

Tiftickjian Law Firm, P.C. has helped hundreds of clients charged with DUI and drug-related offenses all across Colorado. Tiftickjian and his team of criminal defense attorneys are well-known and respected as evidenced by the accolades and recognitions conferred upon them. He was named Law Week Colorado’s 2012 Barrister’s Best DUI Lawyer and the firm is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers for criminal defense. In 2012, Tiftickjian authored chapters in four Aspatore/Thomson Reuters-Westlaw books on DUI/DWI defense and drug crimes. This is his fourth consecutive selection to Colorado Rising Stars.

Defending DUI and drug cases requires an extraordinary amount of training and knowledge in the science of forensic toxicology and intoxication-test evidence. Blood alcohol testing requires precision. “If the testing mechanism is out of tune, or not calibrated properly, its end result is different and cannot be relied upon,” says Tiftickjian.

DUI defense also requires creativity. “Some of my best ideas come late at night after everyone has gone to bed and I am up playing guitar and thinking about my clients,” says Tiftickjian. “Winning over a jury depends not just on your handle on forensic science and law, but how you present the argument with the right choice of words and feeling, like picking the right notes and timing while playing.”

The post Four Times a Charm: Colorado Super Lawyers 2013 appeared first on My Denver DUI Lawyer.

There seem to be some shenanigans a-brewing up in the Piney Woods these days. According to a report by KPRC-TV in Houston, State District Judge Elizabeth Coker has been sending text messages to prosecutors suggesting questions to ask during trial.

The most recent allegations were made by David C. Wells, an investigator with the Polk County District Attorney’s Office. According to Mr. Wells, he and the DA, William Lee Hon, were sitting next to each other in the audience sharing notes about the trial. Then ADA Kaycee Jones asked to borrow Mr. Wells’ notepad to write down a message she had received from Judge Coker. Mr. Wells then handed the note to Mr. Hon who shrugged and told him to hand it to the ADA trying the case, Beverly Armstrong.

If the allegations are true, and the fact they were made by an investigator employed by the DA’s Office puts some weight behind them, the implications are staggering.

I have written over and over again that judges are supposed to be neutral and detached arbiters. The judge’s only duties are to see that the rules are observed and that the defendant gets a fair trial. The judge isn’t supposed to be part of anyone’s “team.”

In sending text messages to prosecutors suggesting questions they might want to ask, Judge Coker crossed the line. If that is what happened, Judge Coker does not deserve to sit on the bench. But she wouldn’t be the only one.

On the eighth floor of the Harris County Criminal (In)justice Center sits County Criminal Court at Law No. 2. William Harmon is the presiding judge of that court. This is the same William Harmon who keeps a plaque awarded by MADD in the courtroom. This is the same William Harmon who walks into the courtroom with a sign informing the public that the average person arrested for DWI has driven drunk 87 times before being caught.

This is the same William Harmon who instructs the prosecutors in his court on how to get evidence admitted and what tactics to use on cross-examination during breaks in the trial. I’ve seen him do it when I assisted a friend trying a DWI case in court some time ago.

Up on the 11th floor in County Criminal Court at Law No. 13, I was observed as Judge Don Smyth called a woman charged with theft up to the bench. She had not yet hired an attorney. The judge berated her and sent her back to have a seat. Then he called up one of the prosecutors and asked him why the defendant hadn’t been charged with felony theft due to her prior convictions.

That wasn’t his job. His job was to be a neutral and impartial arbiter in the case before the court – not to advise the DA’s Office on how to charge defendants.

It doesn’t take a genius to see how it happens. When a judge interacts with the same team of three prosecutors day after day for weeks or months, everyone gets a bit chummy. They start to see their interests aligning and the next thing you know, the judge is offering advice on how to proceed on a given matter to a prosecutor.

Having said all that, the goings-on in Polk County involve more that just a judge allegedly acting unethically. If Mr. Wells is being truthful and Mr. Hon did motion for him to pass the note onto the prosecutor trying the case, Mr. Hon has some explaining to do. He knows the law. He knows that ex parte communications between a judge and a party to litigation without the attorney for the other side present is wrong. He knew it was wrong but he motioned for Mr. Wells to pass the note on anyway.

And what about Mr. Armstrong’s comment that Ms. Jones was handing her notes constantly that she claimed she had received from Judge Coker? Just how long had this little arrangement being going on? For how long were defendants in the 258th Judicial District Court going up against two sets of prosecutors?

Why on Earth would you want to waste time reading or thinking about a meteorite explosion, when you have a serious Long Beach DUI charge on your hands, and your freedom and future literally hang in the balance?

There’s a good reason why.

Many defendants, who face charges like driving under the influence in Long Beach, never take the time to process what they go through. As a result, they often make impetuous decisions that backfire, or they fail to “get into gear” early enough in the process. The end result is the same: driver’s license suspension, jail time, harsh probation terms, and worse.

Point is, you really need to take time to process what’s happened to you and come up with new ways to think resourcefully about your situation. Your DUI event was very disruptive and totally unexpected. No one starts off a day saying “I think I’m going go out and get into a Long Beach DUI accident tonight.” Accidents and DUI checkpoint arrests happen totally out of the blue.

Likewise, the meteorite that exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia in the Ural Mountains on February 15 was totally unexpected. The blast literally shocked the world. (Curiously, the event happened around the same time as a 130,000 ton asteroid zipped by the Earth — nipping our whiskers at just 17,000 miles distance). The fireball nevertheless created a mini-disaster, injuring 1,100 people or so (mostly due to glass blown out from the explosion) and damaging 3,000 area buildings.

Russia — and the rest of the world, actually — got lucky.

Had the meteorite gone slightly off course, it could have exploded over nearby nuclear weapons plants or chemical weapons facilities and thus either set off another Chernobyl-type disaster or caused toxic agents to be released en masse into the atmosphere.

Your Long Beach DUI event was very similar to a meteorite strike — it was unexpected and unwanted, and it’s left you dazed and feeling out of control.

To regain some control and perspective, get in touch with the Kraut Law Group today. Michael Kraut is a highly reputable, widely respected ex-prosecutor who now works as a Long Beach DUI defense lawyer. He and his associates can help you respond knowledgably to your crisis and build a sound and structured defense.