People v. McNamara CA1/1

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

On November 6, 2020, McNamara was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI). The arresting officer drove McNamara to a friend’s house and issued a citation.1 McNamara signed the citation, thereby agreeing, “without admitting guilt,” to appear at an arraignment on December 8, 2020. (Boldface and capitalization omitted.)

McNamara was cited under Vehicle Code section 23152,

subdivisions (a) and (b). All subsequent citations are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

1 Ten days after his arrest, but before the DUI arraignment, McNamara sought to terminate his probation in two separate misdemeanor cases. In an accompanying handwritten declaration, which he signed under penalty of perjury, McNamara stated he had “had no trouble with the law in the last 2 years 9 months or problems with probation.” After McNamara was arraigned on the DUI charges, the Mendocino County District Attorney charged him with perjury, a felony, based on the theory that the declaration’s statement that he had “had no trouble with the law” in almost three years was false.2 A preliminary hearing on the perjury charge was held in May 2021. The officer who…