Michigan Criminal Lawyers Blog

Recently it was announced that 29-year-old Jon M. Brown of Saginaw will go to trial in December on charges that he caused the death of a taxi driver and serious injury to another person in a crash on I-75 near East North Union Road in Monitor Township in May of this year. Brown was allegedly intoxicated when the accident occurred, and reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.105.

The victim who died, 54-year-old Barry E. Campbell, was driving his taxi along with a passenger whom he had picked up in Frankenmuth at the World Expo of Beer and was taking to Midland County. Brown, who was driving a Chevrolet Impala at the time, was allegedly driving in the wrong direction on I-75 when the two vehicles crashed head-on. Campbell’s passenger, Benjamin Martinson, was riding in the front passenger seat of the taxi when the crash occurred. Police reports state that upon arriving at the scene, deputies had a hard time finding Campbell because of the compressed damage to the passenger side of the vehicle.

While Campbell died from the injuries he sustained, Martinson suffered fractures to his pelvis and both legs, a ruptured bladder, collapsed right lung, and lacerations to his spleen and liver. Brown has been charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing serious injury, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing death. He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond.

On Saturday August 29 at approximately 1:45 in the morning, a 43-year-old Beloit man, Mario Esquivel-Flores, died at an area hospital after becoming involved in a collision with a car on Milwaukee Road. At the time of news reports, an investigation into the man’s death was ongoing by the Rock County medical examiner and the City of Beloit Police Department. Esquivel-Flores died due to the serious injuries sustained in the accident.

A more recent news article at the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel claims that police have made an arrest in the case, and that a 29-year-old Clinton man whose vehicle collided with the bicycle was intoxicated at the time of the crash. Police arrested the man, whose name was not released, on suspicion of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. According to police, the man’s blood alcohol level was over the legal limit of .08 percent.

It is not clear whether the driver of the vehicle will face additional charges; Esquivel-Flores was allegedly riding his bicycle in the road without any lights when he was struck by the car.

On Thursday, August 20, 79-year-old Cardinal William Joseph Levada of Menlo Park was charged with driving under the influence while vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii with priest friends, according to a recent article at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

A police spokeswoman said that Levada was alone and was driving a Nissan Altima at the time he was pulled over for swerving while headed in a northbound direction on Queen Kaahumanu Highway. While news reports did not reveal Levada’s blood alcohol content, the threshold for legal intoxication in Hawaii is 0.08 percent, the same threshold as in many states in the U.S.

Levada said in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post that he regretted his error in judgment, and intended to cooperate fully with authorities. He was formerly the highest ranking American official in the Vatican.

On June 16 of this year, 51-year-old Joseph Robert Livingood of White Pigeon was stopped as he drove away from the Four Winds Casino in Dowagiac; his blood alcohol level at the time was 0.18, more than twice the legal limit according to an article at the South Bend Tribune. On Friday, August 14, Livingood pleaded guilty to a third offense DUI. He was sentenced in Cass Circuit Court to between two and five years in prison. He was also ordered to pay $1,658 in fines, costs, and restitution.

According to the report, Livingood has been arrested for drunken driving in 12 jurisdictions across several states. In addition to Michigan, he has been arrested for DUI in Illinois, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The defendant claimed he had never been offered treatment for his alcohol problem. At court on Friday, Cass Circuit Judge Michael Dodge noted that Livingood had a long criminal history including six prison terms for nine felony convictions, although the specific crimes were not revealed.

In the state of Michigan, anyone who has been convicted of driving under the influence more than twice will face 3rd offense charges, regardless of whether it is the third offense or twelfth. A third DUI offense is a felony, which means the defendant will face harsher penalties, including certain jail time. Other punishment may include driver’s license revocation, steep fines, community service, and possibly vehicle immobilization. The court may also order the defendant to have an ignition interlock device installed on his/her vehicle. Felony DUI is punishable by up to five (5) years in prison.