Being charged with both hit and run and DUI in Palmdale is one of the most serious situations you can face in the California criminal justice system. These combined charges carry severe penalties including lengthy jail or prison sentences, substantial fines, permanent license revocation, and a felony record that can follow you for life. The consequences extend far beyond the courtroom, affecting your employment, your family, your immigration status, and your ability to move forward with your life.
At Tu Defensor Criminalista, we understand the fear and uncertainty you’re experiencing right now. Hit and run DUI cases are complex, involving multiple criminal charges, serious allegations, and prosecutors who aggressively pursue maximum penalties. You need more than just any attorney—you need an experienced criminal defense lawyer who knows how to handle these high-stakes cases and who will fight tirelessly to protect your rights and your future.
Palmdale, located in northern Los Angeles County, is home to over 169,000 residents and serves as a major transportation hub for the Antelope Valley region. Major thoroughfares like the Antelope Valley Freeway (State Route 14), Palmdale Boulevard, and Avenue S see heavy traffic daily as commuters travel between Palmdale, Lancaster, Los Angeles, and surrounding areas. According to the California Highway Patrol[1], Los Angeles County reports thousands of hit and run collisions each year, many of which involve impaired drivers.
When a traffic collision occurs in Palmdale and you leave the scene while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you face multiple serious criminal charges that can result in felony convictions and state prison time. Your case will be prosecuted at the Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster, where deputy district attorneys pursue these cases aggressively. This is why having experienced legal representation from the moment of your arrest is absolutely critical.
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Hit and run DUI cases involve violations of multiple California laws. Understanding each charge and how they interact is essential to building an effective defense strategy.
California has two separate hit and run statutes, and which one applies depends on whether the collision resulted in property damage or injury.
Under California Vehicle Code Section 20002[2], if you’re involved in a collision that causes property damage to another vehicle or property, you must:
Failing to fulfill these duties constitutes misdemeanor hit and run, punishable by up to 6 months in county jail and fines up to $1,000. However, when combined with DUI charges, the consequences become far more severe.
Under California Vehicle Code Section 20001[3], if you’re involved in a collision that results in injury or death to another person, you must:
Hit and run causing injury is a wobbler offense, meaning it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony depending on the circumstances. As a misdemeanor, it carries up to 1 year in county jail. As a felony, it carries 2 to 4 years in state prison.
If the collision results in serious injury or death, the penalties increase dramatically, with potential sentences of up to 4 years in state prison, or even life imprisonment in cases involving death.
DUI charges add another layer of serious criminal liability to hit and run cases.
Under California Vehicle Code Section 23152[4], it is illegal to:
When you’re arrested for DUI after a hit and run collision, prosecutors will typically charge you with the applicable DUI offense based on your BAC level and whether drugs were detected in your system.
If the hit and run collision resulted in injuries to another person, you may be charged with DUI causing injury under California Vehicle Code Section 23153[5]. This is a wobbler offense that can be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony.
As a felony, DUI causing injury carries:
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration[6], alcohol-impaired driving contributes to thousands of injury crashes nationwide each year, making this one of the most aggressively prosecuted offenses in California.
When you’re charged with both hit and run and DUI, prosecutors can pursue multiple charges simultaneously. Common charging scenarios include:
These charges can be stacked, meaning you can be convicted and sentenced for both the hit and run and the DUI separately. This results in substantially longer jail or prison sentences than either offense alone would carry.
Understanding why people leave the scene of an accident is important to developing defense strategies. Common reasons include:
Many people panic after a collision, especially if they’ve been drinking. The fear of immediate arrest, the shock of the accident, and impaired judgment from alcohol or drugs can cause people to make the irrational decision to flee the scene.
In some cases, particularly with minor collisions or parking lot accidents, the driver may not realize they were involved in a collision. This is especially true when:
Some individuals leave the scene intending to return after they’ve sobered up, hoping to avoid DUI charges. This strategy almost always backfires, as leaving the scene is a separate crime that carries its own serious penalties.
Drivers without a valid license, registration, or insurance may flee because they fear the consequences of these violations in addition to the accident itself. However, leaving the scene only compounds the legal problems.
Individuals with outstanding warrants or immigration concerns may leave the scene out of fear of arrest. Again, this decision only makes the situation worse and adds serious criminal charges.
Regardless of the reason, leaving the scene of a collision is a crime that must be defended strategically and aggressively.
The penalties for hit and run DUI convictions in California are among the most severe in the criminal justice system. Understanding what you’re facing is critical.
When convicted of both hit and run and DUI, you face penalties for each charge, which may run consecutively (one after another):
Certain circumstances can result in enhanced penalties:
Beyond criminal penalties, hit and run DUI convictions create lasting consequences:
Hit and run DUI investigations are extensive and involve multiple law enforcement agencies working to identify and locate the suspect vehicle and driver.
When a hit and run collision is reported in Palmdale, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (Palmdale Station at 750 E. Avenue Q) or the California Highway Patrol[1] responds to investigate. Officers will:
According to the California Office of Traffic Safety[7], Los Angeles County experiences thousands of hit and run collisions annually, making these investigations a priority for local law enforcement.
Law enforcement uses various methods to identify and locate hit and run vehicles:
In Palmdale, with major routes like State Route 14, Palmdale Boulevard, Avenue S, and 10th Street East having heavy surveillance and traffic monitoring, vehicles are often identified within hours or days of a collision.
Once the vehicle is located, investigators work to identify the driver. This can be challenging because:
Officers may:
If sufficient evidence exists that you were the driver, you’ll be arrested and charged with both hit and run and DUI (if evidence of impairment exists).
One significant issue in hit and run DUI cases is that chemical testing often cannot be performed at the time of the collision since you left the scene. By the time you’re located and arrested, alcohol may have been metabolized and eliminated from your system.
Prosecutors may attempt to prove you were under the influence through:
Hit and run DUI cases are complex, but there are numerous defense strategies that an experienced attorney can employ to challenge the charges or minimize the consequences.
One of the strongest defenses in hit and run cases is challenging whether the prosecution can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were actually driving. If the prosecution cannot establish you as the driver, they cannot convict you.
We investigate:
Simply being the registered owner is not sufficient to prove you were driving. The prosecution must present concrete evidence linking you to the driver’s seat at the time of the collision.
To convict you of hit and run, the prosecution must prove you knew or reasonably should have known that a collision occurred. Defenses based on lack of knowledge include:
In Palmdale, with poorly lit areas, construction zones, and roads in varying conditions, it’s not uncommon for drivers to be genuinely unaware they were involved in a collision.
If chemical testing was delayed or never performed, the prosecution’s DUI case may be weak. We challenge:
Without reliable chemical test results from the time of the collision, proving DUI beyond a reasonable doubt becomes significantly more difficult for prosecutors.
In rare circumstances, a necessity defense may apply if you left the scene because:
For this defense to succeed, you typically must show that you contacted authorities or returned to the scene as soon as the emergency was resolved.
If you genuinely and reasonably believed you had fulfilled your legal duties at the scene, you may have a mistake of fact defense. For example:
If you’re charged with DUI causing injury, we can challenge whether your impairment actually caused the collision and injuries. Alternative causes may include:
If we can show that the collision would have occurred regardless of any impairment, the DUI causing injury charge may be defeated or reduced.
In many cases, the best outcome involves negotiating with prosecutors to reduce the charges. Potential reductions include:
Our firm’s reputation, relationships with prosecutors at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, and thorough case preparation give us leverage in these critical negotiations.
If you’ve already left the scene of a collision and are facing potential hit and run charges, there are steps you should take immediately to protect yourself.
Do not contact police or turn yourself in without first consulting with an experienced criminal defense attorney. Once you have legal representation:
Do not post anything on social media about the collision or your whereabouts. Prosecutors routinely review social media accounts and will use any posts, photos, or comments against you in court.
If possible, preserve evidence that may support your defense:
Do not repair collision damage to your vehicle before consulting with your attorney. The damage pattern may be important evidence in your defense, and repairing the vehicle could be seen as destroying evidence.
If investigators identify you as a suspect, they may obtain search warrants for your vehicle, phone, home, or other property. Do not resist or interfere with the execution of a valid search warrant, but insist on having your attorney present or contacted immediately.
For non-citizens living in Palmdale, hit and run DUI convictions can have devastating immigration consequences. According to U.S. Census Bureau[8] data, Palmdale has a significant immigrant population, making these issues particularly relevant to our community.
Under federal immigration law, certain criminal convictions can result in deportation, including:
Hit and run, particularly when charged as a felony, may be considered a crime involving moral turpitude because it demonstrates a conscious disregard for the safety and property rights of others. When combined with DUI causing injury, the immigration consequences become even more severe.
Hit and run DUI convictions can affect:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services[9] carefully reviews criminal history as part of its evaluation of “good moral character,” which is required for many immigration benefits.
At Tu Defensor Criminalista, we understand the intersection of criminal and immigration law. We work to:
If you’re a non-citizen facing hit and run DUI charges, it is absolutely critical that your criminal defense attorney understands immigration law and works to protect your status.
Palmdale’s economy is heavily dependent on aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and service industries. A hit and run DUI conviction can have severe employment consequences in these sectors.
Many Palmdale residents work for aerospace and defense contractors like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, which require security clearances. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics[10], the aerospace industry represents a significant portion of employment in the Antelope Valley.
A felony hit and run DUI conviction can result in:
If you hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL), a DUI conviction results in:
When combined with hit and run charges, CDL consequences are even more severe, as commercial driving requires the highest standard of responsibility.
Hit and run DUI convictions can affect professional licenses including:
Licensing boards view hit and run offenses particularly seriously because leaving the scene demonstrates a lack of integrity and accountability.
Even for positions that don’t require specific licenses, a felony conviction creates barriers to employment:
Hit and run DUI cases from Palmdale are prosecuted at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, located at 42011 4th Street West in Lancaster. Understanding the local court system is essential to effective defense.
Your case will proceed through several stages:
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office prosecutes hit and run DUI cases aggressively, particularly when injuries are involved. Deputy district attorneys assigned to the Antelope Valley office are experienced in these cases and typically seek maximum penalties.
However, when faced with strong defenses and thorough case preparation, prosecutors are willing to negotiate reasonable plea agreements. Having an attorney who regularly appears in this courthouse and has established professional relationships gives you significant advantages in negotiations.
In addition to criminal charges, you may face civil lawsuits from victims of the collision.
Victims can sue you for:
Because hit and run DUI involves particularly egregious conduct (both driving drunk and fleeing the scene), courts may award punitive damages designed to punish you and deter similar conduct. Punitive damages can be substantial, often several times the amount of compensatory damages.
Your auto insurance may deny coverage for the collision because:
This means you may be personally liable for all damages awarded in a civil lawsuit, which can result in wage garnishment, property liens, and bankruptcy.
Hit and run DUI cases require specialized knowledge, extensive investigation, and aggressive advocacy. Here’s why clients choose our firm:
We focus exclusively on criminal defense, with particular emphasis on DUI and traffic-related offenses. We’ve successfully defended clients facing all types of hit and run DUI charges, from property damage to serious injury cases.
We leave no stone unturned in investigating your case:
We regularly appear at the Antelope Valley Courthouse and have developed strong working relationships with judges, prosecutors, and court personnel. We understand local procedures, know which arguments are most effective with local decision-makers, and have a proven track record in this courthouse.
We prepare every case as if it’s going to trial, which gives us leverage in negotiations and ensures we’re ready if trial becomes necessary. Prosecutors know we will not hesitate to take a case to trial to protect our clients’ rights.
When you hire Tu Defensor Criminalista, you work directly with an experienced attorney, not a paralegal or assistant. We take time to understand your situation, answer your questions thoroughly, and keep you informed at every stage of your case.
We proudly serve Palmdale’s diverse community with fluent English and Spanish language services, ensuring clear communication and culturally sensitive representation.
We don’t just handle the criminal case—we help you understand and minimize all consequences, including:
Contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately before speaking to police or turning yourself in. Your attorney can advise you on the best course of action, contact authorities on your behalf if appropriate, and begin building your defense. Do not make any statements to police without your attorney present, and do not post anything on social media about the incident. Every case is different, but having legal representation from the beginning gives you the best chance of minimizing consequences.
Yes. While it makes the prosecution’s case more difficult, you can still be charged with DUI based on other evidence such as witness testimony about your behavior and condition, circumstantial evidence of alcohol consumption, statements you made, and expert testimony using retrograde extrapolation. However, the lack of chemical test results significantly weakens the prosecution’s case and provides opportunities for defense.
It depends on several factors including whether anyone was injured, the extent of any injuries, your prior criminal record, your blood alcohol level, and the specific circumstances of your case. For property damage cases, prison is unlikely but county jail is possible. For injury cases charged as felonies, state prison is a real possibility, with sentences ranging from probation to several years depending on aggravating factors. An experienced attorney can often negotiate alternatives to prison even in serious cases.
The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were driving. They may use circumstantial evidence such as: you being the registered owner, the vehicle being registered to your address, surveillance footage showing you near or in the vehicle, witnesses seeing you before or after the collision, your statements to police, or physical evidence placing you in the driver’s seat. However, being the registered owner alone is not sufficient—there must be additional evidence linking you to the driver’s seat at the time of the collision.
Lack of knowledge that a collision occurred is a valid defense to hit and run charges. If the impact was very minor, if conditions prevented you from seeing or feeling the collision, or if you reasonably believed you hit a curb or object rather than a vehicle, you may not be guilty of hit and run. Your attorney will need to investigate the circumstances and present evidence supporting your lack of knowledge.
Yes, in many cases charges can be reduced through negotiation. Possible reductions include felony to misdemeanor, DUI causing injury to standard DUI, or DUI to wet reckless or dry reckless. The likelihood of a reduction depends on the strength of the evidence, the severity of any injuries, your prior record, and the skill of your attorney in negotiating with prosecutors.
Probably not. Most insurance policies have provisions that allow the company to deny coverage if you fail to fulfill your duties after an accident, which includes remaining at the scene. Additionally, intentional acts (leaving the scene) and DUI are often excluded from coverage. This means you may be personally liable for all damages, which can be financially devastating. This is another reason why having an attorney who can potentially negotiate reduced charges is so important.
The statute of limitations for misdemeanor hit and run is one year from the date of the offense. For felony hit and run and DUI causing injury, the statute of limitations is three years. However, these deadlines can be extended in certain circumstances, and prosecutors typically file charges well before the deadline expires once you’ve been identified as a suspect.
You face both criminal court suspension/revocation and DMV administrative suspension. For DUI, the DMV will administratively suspend your license (4 months for first offense, 1 year for refusal). For hit and run causing injury, the court can suspend your license for up to 3 years. The criminal court may also suspend or revoke your license as part of your sentence. These suspensions can run concurrently or consecutively, potentially leaving you without a license for an extended period.
It depends on the specific circumstances and charges. For standard DUI, you may be eligible for an ignition interlock device (IID) restricted license. However, for hit and run DUI cases, particularly those involving injury, obtaining a restricted license is more difficult and may not be allowed. Your attorney can advise you on your eligibility and help you navigate the DMV process.
Hit and run DUI convictions can have severe immigration consequences including deportation, inadmissibility, and denial of naturalization. Felony convictions are particularly serious. It is critical that your criminal defense attorney understands immigration law and works to minimize or eliminate immigration consequences through strategic plea negotiations and case resolution. At Tu Defensor Criminalista, we have extensive experience protecting the immigration status of our clients.
No. You should politely decline to answer questions and immediately contact an attorney. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Police may seem friendly or suggest that cooperation will help you, but their job is to gather evidence for prosecution. Exercise your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and your Sixth Amendment right to an attorney.
Attorney fees vary depending on the complexity of the case, the severity of the charges, and whether the case goes to trial. We provide transparent fee agreements during your free consultation. While legal representation is an investment, the cost of a conviction—including prison time, fines, lost employment, and a permanent criminal record—far exceeds the cost of quality legal defense. We work with clients to make representation accessible through payment plans when appropriate.
Remember:
Attorney Armando Josué Cespedes is rated 5.0 on Avvo, with 34 five-star reviews from clients praising his dedication, professionalism, and results. Many note how his trial skills and attention to detail led to reduced charges or outright dismissals.
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