The Umansky Law Firm

This Fourth of July weekend, where will you be? Will you be with friends and family celebrating Independence Day by watching fireworks? Or will you be in jail charged with driving under the influence? Hopefully, it's the former.

It's okay to have fun on holidays like the Fourth of July, and even drink alcohol. However, make sure you either have a designated driver or know your limit. The consequences of being charged with driving under the influence in Florida carry stiff penalties.

First, here are some statistics you might want to consider:

• Two-thirds of DUI convictions are for first time offenders
  
• One-third of all fatal accidents involve at least one person whose blood alcohol content was over 0.08%
  
• 40% of all fatal car accidents are alcohol related
  

In Florida, you may be arrested for a DUI with a BAC of 0.08%. This may not seem like much to you, but just because you feel fine to drive, the police and their breathalyzer equipment may see it another way. Unfortunately, DUI is a common crime in Florida, and police know what to look for during traffic stops or road blocks.

If you are a first time offender, your punishment may include probation, alcohol counseling, community service, and a massive fine. However, by completing a pre-trial diversion program, your charge may be dropped.

If you are a repeat offender, fines become steeper and jail time may be unavoidable.

In addition to jail time, you may lose your drivers license. This can mean loss of job, which in turn can mean the inability to pay rent, mortgage or other bills. You may also be seen negatively by your friends, family, and neighbors.

You should avoid drinking and driving by all means possible this Fourth of July weekend. Find alternate transportation, get a designated driver, or don't drink alcohol.

If you are arrested for a DUI, one of the first things you should do is contact an experienced DUI attorney. By hiring an attorney, you are more likely to be given the opportunity to be put in a diversion program.

If you have been charged with a DUI in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umanksy Law Firm for a free initial case consultation.

Although the Fourth of July isn't until next Monday, Independence Day begins this Friday for many people. This means increased parties, barbecues, eating out, and probably drinking alcohol. When it comes to drinking, most people know when to say when especially if they're driving. Law enforcement is betting against this, though, and will step up their DUI patrols and checkpoints this coming weekend.

Independence Day weekend should be fun, but you also need to be aware that there will be more police setting up traffic stops, road blocks, and other means to spot people driving under the influence. In fact, they'll be looking for any type of driving infraction across the state of Florida to test you.

On one hand, you should be able to understand that it's for the safety of the public. No one wants to be involved in a drunken driving accident. On the other hand, if you are pulled out of your car and asked to perform a field sobriety test, even though you may have driven safely a thousand times before after a couple drinks, you may feel you are being singled out. If the police then decide to arrest you for driving under the influence, it will do more than ruin your weekend.

However, even if you are arrested under suspicion for driving under the influence, you still have rights. Ask yourself if the police have:

• The right to stop you
  
• The right to take your license
  
• The right to ask you to perform a field sobriety test
  
• The right to ask you to take a breathalyzer test
  
• The right to arrest you
  

If you can honestly answer no to any of these, you stand a chance of having your DUI charge reduced or thrown out.

If you are pulled over and charged with DUI this Fourth of July weekend in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm for a free and confidential case consultation today.

According to restaurants around the New Smyrna Beach area, thefts of cooking oil are up from containers in the back of the building. One reason is because the price of cooking oil has risen to 48 cents a pound. This may not seem like much, but it was only 12 cents in 2005. Restaurants sell the cooking oil to a national company that processes the oil to turn it into yellow grease. It can then be further converted into animal feed.

Another reason, and probably the main reason around Florida, is that people use the cooking grease to power diesel engines. Biodiesel converter kits or alcohol make conversion easy. The alleged thieves are most likely using it for their own vehicles, but some companies will buy it from whomever.

Although some companies reportedly do not want to press charges against those taking the cooking oil, one North Carolina legislator wants to make stealing over $1000 in cooking oil a felony.

Even if a restaurant owner does not want to press charges against you for taking cooking oil, you are still taking an awful chance if you are caught. Yes, gas is around $4 a gallon right now and running your vehicle on biofuel is a good thing, but if you are caught in possession of stolen cooking oil, the price of gas will be the least of your problems.

If you are in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

An Idaho state senator was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and grand theft auto after what is being called "bizarre" behavior over the weekend. According to reports, the senator was drinking at a golf course around 10pm on Saturday and left there on foot. He then allegedly stole a Ford Excursion with a trailer and jackknifed it in a driveway.

Two teenagers awoke their mom around 2:00am to tell her about what was going on in their driveway. After jackknifing the Ford, the senator then got out of the vehicle, wandered around the property, walked up and down the road, and then got into the back of the vehicle where he fell asleep.

The man who lived on the property went out to speak with the barefoot senator who told the homeowner he was "looking for the promised land."

When police arrived, the senator said he was headed to Jackpot, Nevada. He was taken to jail without resistance. He was given a breathalyzer and blew a BAC of .15. He then spent Father's Day in jail.

The senator's spokespeople say the senator is obviously embarrassed. What will happen to his political future is still up in the air, but he was mentioned as a candidate for higher office once upon a time.

If you have been charged with a DUI in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

A 51-year-old man in an Ormond Beach trailer park is charged with fraud after his mother's friends and neighbors lent him around $900.

The residents of the Holiday Village Mobile Home Park, many of whom are living on fixed incomes, allegedly gave the suspect money over the last two months after he said he needed it to fix his mother's car or get materials for a dry wall job. Police allege he instead spent the money on drugs.

The suspect lives with his mother in the park and allegedly admitted to an investigator that he used the money to feed his addiction to pain killers. He has been charged in four cases with fraud and dealing in stolen property on one.

The suspect is being held in Volusia County Branch Jail on $7500 bail.

Sadly, drug addiction often makes people do things that can get them into serious trouble. Being charged with a felony or even a misdemeanor can affect all aspects of your life. Getting these people into treatment for their addiction rather than throwing them in prison is in everybody's best interest because feeding their addiction by any means necessary is usually the reason for their crime.

If you have been charged with fraud or a drug offense in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

Flo Rida, the rap artist whose hit "Low" is all the rage, was pulled over around 3:30am last Friday morning in Miami after law enforcement officers observed him swerving in his lane. Flo Rida, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, was driving his $1.7 million 2008 Bugatti when he was pulled over.

Police allegedly smelled alcohol when they approached the vehicle and asked Flo to step out of the Bugatti to give him a field sobriety test. Around this time a crowd gathered. Some bystanders reportedly asked the police to release Flo and others said they'd give Flo a ride home.

When police asked Flo to "walk the line," he allegedly said he couldn't and asked to perform another test. Flo also tried to convince the police he could make it home. Sadly for Flo and his fans, the police arrested him for driving under the influence.

Flo's blood alcohol content was allegedly .185 when he was arrested.

In addition to the DUI, Flo was also cited when police ran a computer check and found his license was suspended last month for failing to pay a traffic fine.

If you have been charged with DUI in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm for an initial case consultation.

Willie Nelson settled his November marijuana possession charge with a plea deal in Texas on Tuesday. Nelson's drug possession charge was reduced to a possession of drug paraphernalia charge, and the singer paid a $500 fine. According to Nelson's attorney, the charge will be dropped from his record if he can stay out of trouble for the next month.

Nelson was charged with possession of marijuana when his tour bus was searched by US Border Patrol agents in Hudspeth County, 85 miles south of El Paso.

Jokes from the prosecution have appeared now and then in this case. The prosecutor originally said Nelson could settle the case with a $100 fine if he serenaded the court with his song, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain." The judge, however, was not amused. Then, in March, the prosecutor said that Nelson was charged with possession of six ounces of pot, and would have put the case out of his jurisdiction, but he and the sheriff threw out or smoked enough to bring it back into his jurisdiction.

Nelson's attorney said the singer was happy to have this behind him and that he had worried about it. He added, "The truth is there are a lot of people who had access to the tour bus, and it's not an open-and-shut case." He said he believed Nelson's charge was reduced because he had a good lawyer.

If you have been charged with a drug offense in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

Lenny Dykstra, who played for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, was jailed on Monday on charges of grand theft auto and drug possession. These come from accusations of using false information to lease a car from a California dealership.

Dykstra was charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft, and other charges. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office says Dykstra is facing 12 years in prison if convicted.

According to prosecutors, Dykstra and two accomplices allegedly tried to lease high-end vehicles from dealers earlier this year by providing false information and claiming credit through a phony company called Home Free Systems. One of three dealerships accepted the lease applications and allowed the men to leave with three cars.

When Dykstra was arrested in April, law enforcement allegedly found cocaine, Ecstasy, and a synthetic human growth hormone called Somatropin in his San Fernando Valley home.

Dykstra has had a string of bad luck. He filed for bankruptcy two years ago, and was charged with more than 12 federal counts including bankruptcy fraud in May.

If you have been charged with theft or drug offenses in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today. We offer a free and confidential case consultation.

The latest entry into the annals of ridiculous arrests goes to Orlando police for arresting three members of the Orlando chapter of Food Not Bombs in Lake Eola Park. The Food Not Bombs movement began in the 1980s as a nonviolent organization that feeds the hungry in over a thousand cities around the world. One of the three arrested is a co-founder of the movement.

According to records, the three members were arrested for violating a city ordinance. The ordinance states that groups must obtain a permit to feed groups of 25 or more people within a two mile radius of City Hall.

Food Not Bombs had gone to court earlier in the year to fight the ordinance, but lost in April. Police did not interfere with Food Not Bombs while the case was being argued in court. The US District Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that the ordinance does not violate the Constitution and that Orlando may continue to regulate how many people may be fed in the park.

Orlando police allege Food Not Bombs intentionally violated the statute when they announced on its website for members to show up in Eola Park on May 25. Police allege they found a press release on one of the arrested stating their intention to defy the ordinance. The group had fed the homeless breakfast on Mondays and dinner on Wednesdays for five years.

The three arrested members of Food Not Bombs had their bail set at $250 for each person. Two of the three were bailed out, but the third opted to stay in jail and let the legal process work itself out. They each face a $500 fine and/or 60 days in jail for violating the ordinance.

If you have been charged with a crime in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm for an initial case consultation today.