Experience is necessary to beat a DUI
Today’s DUI ticket defense requires a great deal of scientific and legal knowledge. Scientific knowledge is necessary to know if the alcohol test was administered correctly: Is the lab trying to cover something up? Could something have skewed the test? Could something else have invalidated the test? Legal knowledge is also important. Is your attorney up-to-date with the latest in DUI defense? Does your attorney attend the most important national seminars on DUI defense? As a potential consumer of legal products, you have the right to know the answers to these questions.
MEET EUGENE ELLIS
Why is Mr. Ellis called “The Professor” by many local DUI attorneys and known to his clients as “MR. DUI”?
Mr. Ellis is known as “The Professor” by many of the local DUI attorneys because his door is always open to local attorneys for advice, and because he writes and teaches others about DUI law. That, in turn, comes from practicing law in the San Diego courts for 36 years and limiting his practice to the defense of citizens accused of drunk driving for the past 32 years. Mr. Ellis has a newsletter that is sent to a handful of local DUI boards and he attends every major national seminar anywhere in the United States that he is aware of. When he returns from these seminars, he holds a class and teaches what he has learned to any local attorney who wishes to learn.
He is currently writing a book on how to defend yourself against a DUI conviction and a paperback version for restaurant and bar patrons to take with them in case they are stopped by local law enforcement. He is a sought-after speaker in his field and the preeminent DUI defense attorney in San Diego County, California.
ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENTS
Aside from Mr. Ellis’ education in the law, he has also gone out of his way to learn more in specific areas of DUI.
Founding Member of the National DUI Defense School, Advanced DUI Training and Education 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010.
This is the most advanced training camp offered to attorneys. It involves a given factual situation and each attorney is required to prepare the case for trial. Upon arrival, classes are given in each area of trial preparation and presentation by the nation’s leading DUI defense attorneys. The class is divided into small groups in which each student demonstrates their ability and understanding of the lecture subject matter. After each demonstration, the student is critiqued by a three-member panel, again comprised of the top DUI defense attorneys in the country. In addition to extensive legal training and professional science in the areas involved with DUI defense, attendees work closely in small groups with scientists who explain the most advanced developments in chemical breath testing and blood testing using the same scientific instruments that work in the attorneys’ in-house jurisdictions.
Postgraduate: Certified Sobriety Instructor, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
This course is based on the scientific study conducted by the Southern California Research Institute for DUI Detection and Field Sobriety Exercises. It includes instruction on the administration, procedure, and evaluation of collected data for the horizontal gaze nystagmus, stand-up, and walk-turn tests used by the San Diego and State Police, and indeed across the U.S., in identifying potentially intoxicated drivers during traffic stops. Mr. Ellis is trained by a certified instructor in this course. His instructor was Rick Swope, who has trained thousands of state troopers nationwide on how to give these coordination tests and is an instructor of an instructor for the NHTSA. Mr. Ellis is authorized to teach others how to give these sobriety tests.
Intoxilyzer 5000 Operator Certificate, American Legal Education Graduate 1996
The Intoxilyzer 5000 is the most common breath testing machine used throughout California to test potentially intoxicated individuals who have been arrested for DUI and DWI under the current implied consent law. This machine is manufactured by CMI, Incorporated. This certification exceeds the standards set by the California Alcohol Breath Testing Program for breath test operators. In addition to learning how to conduct a valid breath test, this course also teaches the scientific aspects of breath alcohol testing, infrared photospectroscopy, the inner workings of the Intoxilyzer 5000, and calibration of the Intoxilyzer 5000 breath test machine.
Certified Training on the 3000 Breathalyzer, Master Data, Drager, and the Alco-Sensor Breathalyzer
A hand-held unit is now widely used to convict citizens of DUI by the State Police and local law enforcement DUI units. Mr. Ellis recently appeared on San Diego television station KUSI and instigated Dan Plat, the anchor, to chew Wonder Bread, which then blew 0.012 on Wonder Bread, while a station employee blew 0.033 (half the legal limit) after eating a slice of Wonder Bread. From then on, this machine is referred to by San Diegans who watched that news broadcast as the “Wonder Bread Machine,” and they refuse to blow into it if they are over 21 years of age.
He attended graduate courses at the USC Law Center: Advanced Studies in DUI Defense, class of ’92 and ’93; and Gilman Park Clinic Inc.: Advanced Studies in DUI Defense, 1995.
He was selected as a “gatekeeper” attorney for the prestigious “Drunk Driving Defense Network” for the County of San Diego, over other leading San Diego and Los Angeles DUI councils.
No other attorney in San Diego County can offer this rich background over years, as well as hands-on training with blood testing instruments, as well as expert training on the most commonly given breathing machines.
Mr. Ellis is also a “Consulting Editor” (Ed. Kuwatch) on James Publishing Company’s excellent two-volume DUI reference work, “DUI Law in California,” which is consulted by leading DUI attorneys throughout California.
Mr. Ellis is the recipient of the much-coveted “specialist” designation from the California Deuce Advocates. There are about 135,000 lawyers in California. About 10,000 of them will need your money to represent you in a drunk driving case. Only about 225 of them are serious enough about this practice area to join the California Deuce Advocates, the only statewide association of bar attorneys who do drunk driving defense. A “regular member” is an attorney who meets the minimum requirements for membership, with an added interest in staying ahead by developing and networking with other attorneys in their field. A “specialist member” is one who has met the strict requirements for certification of skills and experience by the organization. There are only about 30 specialized members. (Associate members are non-professional attorneys with an interest in drunk driving defense.)
