Notable Beverly Hills DUI arrests

Although a quarter of California DUI arrests occur in Los Angeles county, the city of Beverly Hills has seen its share of notable driving under the influence arrests involving celebrities. In many cases skilled DUI lawyers were able to have charges lessened or even dropped.

Pop singer Taylor Dayne, who became famous with the 1988 hit “Tell It to My Heart”, was arrested on March 6, 2008 in Beverly Hills after failing several field sobriety tests. Dayne, who had twelve Top 20 singles and sold over 75 million albums, was held for seven hours before posting a $5,000 bond. Her Los Angeles DUI attorneys  made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving and was sentenced in a Beverly Hills courtroom in June 2008 to two years of probation, a fine and the required completion of a Mothers Against Drunk Driving program for her misdemeanor offense.

On December 27, 2007, former O.C. television star Mischa Barton was pulled over after officer saw her car weaving between two lanes of traffic. She also failed to signal when making a turn. The press reported that she would probably plead no contest and agree to serve a three-year unsupervised probation term. She would also do three months of alcohol education and pay a fine of about $1,700. Her defense attorney was able to get a marijuana possession charge dropped due to the small amount found and another charge of driving without a license was reduced to an infraction.

On October 30, 2007, actress Rebecca DeMornay, best known for the film “Risky Business” was pulled over by the police for a routine moving violation. But after the officers noticed a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, they asked DeMornay to submit to a field sobriety test. Not only did she fail the test but she was over the legal limit on a Breathalyzer. She was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.09. She was taken into the Beverly Hills police station, booked and posted the requisite $5,000 bail for the two counts of misdemeanor driving under the influence.

On May 27, 2005, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and driving while intoxicated (DUI) in Beverly Hills. Stone was arrested at a police checkpoint on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills after showing signs of intoxication and the officers found unspecified illegal substances during a search of his Mercedes. The director contacted his lawyer and posted a $15,000 bond and was released around 6:30 a.m. the next morning.