DUI causing an injury prosecution – california vehicle code 23153(a)

DUI Causing an Injury Prosecution: California Vehicle Code Section 23153(a)

To prove that the defendant is guilty of DUI causing injury, the prosecution must prove that:

1. The defendant drove a vehicle;
2. When he/she drove, the defendant was under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or a drug;
3. While driving under the influence, the defendant also committed an illegal act or neglected to perform a legal duty;AND
4. The defendant’s illegal act or failure to perform a legal duty caused bodily injury to another person.

A person is under the influence if, as a result of drinking an alcoholic beverage and/or taking a drug, his or her mental or physical abilities are so impaired that he or she is no longer able to drive a vehicle with the caution of a sober person, using ordinary care, under similar circumstances.

A drug is a substance, or combination of substances other than alcohol, that could so affect the nervous system, brain, or muscles of a person that it would appreciably impair his or her ability to drive as an ordinarily cautious person, in full possession of his or her faculties and using reasonable care, would drive under similar circumstances.

Using ordinary care means using reasonable care to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm to someone else. A person fails to exercise ordinary care if he or she does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation.

An act causes bodily injury to another person if the injury is the direct, natural, and probable consequence of the act and the injury would not have happened without the act.

A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. All the circumstances established by the evidence must be considered in deciding whether a consequence is natural and probable.

There may be more than one cause of injury. An act causes bodily injury to another person only if it is a substantial factor in causing the injury. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor. However, it need not be the only factor that causes the injury.

Driving under the influence Causing Injury Prosecution: California Vehicle Code Section 23153(b)

Driving With 0.08 % Blood Alcohol Causing Injury – California Vehicle Code Section 23153(b)

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must prove that:

1. The defendant drove a vehicle;
2. When (he/she) drove, the defendant’s blood alcohol level was 0.08 % or more by weight;
3. When the defendant was driving with that blood alcohol level, (he/she) also (committed an illegal act/ [or] neglected to perform a legal duty);AND
4. The defendants (illegal act/ [or] failure to perform a legal duty) caused bodily injury to another person.

It is a rebuttable presumption that the person had a BAC of 0.08 % or more in his or her blood at the time of the performance of a chemical test within three hours after driving.

Using ordinary care means using reasonable care to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm to someone else. A person fails to exercise ordinary care if he or she does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation.

An act causes bodily injury to another person if the injury is the direct, natural, and probable consequence of the act and the injury would not have happened without the act.

A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. All the circumstances established by the evidence must be considered in deciding whether a consequence is natural and probable.

There may be more than one cause of injury. An act causes bodily injury to another person only if it is a substantial factor in causing the injury. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor. However, it need not be the only factor that causes the injury.