Seattle Criminal Attorney | Burien City Manager Gets DUI

It appears as though our city officials are just as irresponsible as we are. In the Seattle Times today I saw a story about Burien City Manager Mike Martin's arrest for DUI. According to the story, Mr. Martin wrecked his car when he was trying to turn around (as an aside, if you were drunk, wouldn't you take ever precaution to drive safely?) and was subsequently questioned by the police and arrested for DUI. If this isn't a great story for the Criminal Attorney in Seattle Blog, I don't know what is.

What is the lesson to be learned from this case? Well, Mr. Martin did do something right. The story goes on to state that Mr. Martin refused to do an field sobriety tests, refused to take a preliminary breath test (the little thing they ask you to blow into when you are still on the roadside - it usually doesn't give out a breath to alcohol number, it just says if you are over the limit), and finally refused to take the breathalyzer at the station.

In almost any story you read about public officials that care anything at all about their political careers, you will notice that they always refuse to do everything that is asked of them regarding a DUI. And they always call their DUI lawyer (in this case Martin called his Seattle criminal attorney).

Why do they do this? The reason is simple. They don't want to be convicted of DUI, and they are willing to pay the probable penalty of losing their license for a year.

In Seattle, if you refuse to take the breathalyzer test at the police station, you have automatically gotten your license suspended for one year. But refusing isn't too bad for Martin, because he knows two important pieces of information: first, under the new law passed in Washington, Martin is eligible for an interlock ignition device in his car immediately, making the revocation essentially non-existent (although he won't be able to drive after he's been drinking, which is a good thing); and second, the prosecution now has very little evidence to provide to a jury that Mr. Martin was driving drunk.

Think about what the prosecution's case looks like: (1) Mr. Martin wrecked his car; (2) he said he'd had a couple of drinks (these statements may be admissible, by the way - any good DUI attorney should file a motion to suppress these statements); and he refused to take the breathalyzer. Trust me when I say he can explain away the last element, and the others don't necessarily prove he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Now, does this mean you should automatically decline to take the breathalyzer? Probably not. There are other considerations to be made before deciding to decline the breathalyzer (the most important of which is if you've had any previous DUIs). If you are arrested for DUI, before you decide if you should take the breathalyzer, ask to speak with a Seattle DUI attorney. The police must give you an opportunity to do so.

And don't necessarily hold out for the attorney you want. It can actually be better to speak with someone that won't be representing you going forward, because they may need to be a witness in your case to discuss your state of intoxication at the time. The public defender's office has people on the phone around the clock to help - they are good and you should ask to speak with them.

Related Posts:

Seattle Criminal Attorney | No Talking Your Way Out of DUI

Seattle Criminal Attorney | Owen Schmidt DUI

Free Criminal Attorney Advice - Don't Smuggle Drugs in Cattle Trailers

In the latest Criminal Attorney in Seattle Blog edition of real world news as an example of what not to do if you are buying drugs, selling drugs, and certainly transporting drugs. Today a man pled guilty in the Seattle federal courthouse to trying to smuggle more than 1,700 pounds of marijuana into the United States in the floor of a cattle trailer. And his Seattle criminal attorney probably didn't have much of a chance.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the creativity here. Particularly if it was loaded up with cattle. Talk about using something to mask the smell from dogs and people. A trailer full of cattle would certainly produce enough waste to prevent me from examining the floor too closely. But our duty bound federal border agents did a great job of checking out the trailer and finding a bunch of drugs.

If you read the story, out there on the internet, it looks as though the guy did have cattle in the trailer. And it wasn't any smell that tipped off the agents, but a discrepancy in the floor. Once alerted, and once they have probable cause to suspect drugs are being transported in Kent and in the surrounding Seattle area (or even the Washington border) the cops can pretty much strip down the entire car. You would think the smugglers would have taken a little bit more time to make sure everything looks right, since they stood to lose up to $5 million in marijuana if caught.

What does this teach you about finding and hiring a criminal attorney? Not much, but it does teach you not to try to drive across the border with a ton of marijuana packed in so recklessly that the floorboards look messed up enough that a border agent thinks something is wrong even though the trailer is loaded with cattle.

I guess an additional tip I could offer is don't do any of that while driving drunk either...

Related Posts:

More Free Criminal Attorney Advice - Don't Hit People with Golf Clubs

Owen Schmidt Arrested for DUI

Overview of Seattle Criminal Law

If you are in need of a Seattle criminal attorney, you are likely suspected of commiting a crime. I figured that since you are accused of something, you might as well know your rights and what the proseuctor can and will do to you. Today I'm going to discuss Seattle DUI outlined in the RCW 46.61.502.

In layman's terms, DUI happens when you drink enough alcohol that it impairs your ability to drive a vehicle safely. As I'm sure you know, the amount of alcohol in your system is measured by a breathalyzer test, in Seattle called the DataMaster, and a measurement of .08 or greater presumes (accepts without question) that you are too drunk to drive. But, there is even more to the law than that.

There are actually 3 ways to be convicted of Seattle DUI under the law. If you, while driving a car in Seattle:

(1) have, within two hours of driving, a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher as shown by an analysis of the person's blood or breath made under RCW 46.61.506;

(2) while the person is under the influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor or any drug; or

(3) while the person is under the combined influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor and any drug.

What does this mean? Well, a couple of things. First, the cops don't need a breathalyzer to arrest you for DUI in Seattle. If, for example, a Seattle cop pulls you over and after talking to you and running field sobriety tests (which you should refuse) believes you are DUI he can arrest you and charge you even if your breath test comes back under .08. The cops can use their "training and experience" to form an opinion as to your sobriety (those are the kinds of cases Seattle criminal attorneys love to defend, by the way). Second, DUI is not limited to just alcohol. You can get a DUI for using drugs too.

Which brings us to section 2 of RCW 46.61.502: the fact that a person charged with a violation of this section is or has been entitled to use a drug under the laws of this state shall not constitute a defense against a charge of violating this section. This means just because you were prescribed Percoset doesn't mean you can use that as a defense if you were driving after just having taken some. Voluntary intoxication is not a defense.

On to section 3: it is an affirmative defense to a violation of subsection (1)(a) of this section which the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant consumed a sufficient quantity of alcohol after the time of driving and before the administration of an analysis of the person's breath or blood to cause the defendant's alcohol concentration to be 0.08 or more within two hours after driving. The court shall not admit evidence of this defense unless the defendant notifies the prosecution prior to the omnibus or pretrial hearing in the case of the defendant's intent to assert the affirmative defense. Wow, that's a mouthful.

What they are saying here is that if, for example, you've been driving, stop driving, and the cops are looking for you, and between the time you stopped driving and the cops find you you get drunk, you can use that as a defense to a Seattle DUI charge. There are two caveats to this defense, though. First, you must prove that it was more likely than not that your drinking after driving is what caused you to blow above .08; and second, that you have to tell the court and the prosecutor that you plan to use this defense before the omnibus hearing (a hearing where evidence is presented and motions are argued at the beginning stages of criminal proceedings). The law just recognizes that sometimes people drink after they are done driving.

Section 4 was put in there as a last resort in case the Seattle cops mess up with your original breathalyzer test. It says that Breathalyzer samples collected after the 2 hour time limit to take the tests has passed may be used to show you were drunk within the two hour time frame after the incident, or that at least you had been drinking for the non-breathalyzer portions of the Seattle DUI laws. Does it sound a little shady, that the state or city prosecutor could use stale evidence to prove you committed a crime? That's because it is.

Section 5 says that a Seattle DUI is a gross misdemeanor unless section 6 applies. Section 6 says a Seattle DUI is a class C felony if: (1) you have four or more prior DUIs in the last 10 years; (2) the person has been previously convicted of: (a) vehicular homicide while DUI; (b) vehicular assault while DUI; or (c) and out of state offense compared to (a) or (b).

That is it for your basic DUI law. If only it were that simple. Stay tuned for more Seattle DUI information.