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Recently I represented a client who was charged with DUI in the Seattle area after a detention and arrest by a local police officer. A review of the police report led me to believe that this could be a difficult case. All the “signs” police are trained to look for were in this report: Weaving, speeding, [...]

An ignition interlock license is a license that permits one to drive during a period of license suspension resulting from a DUI arrest or conviction so long as the vehicle being driven is equipped with an ignition interlock device and SR22 insurance is in place. See RCW 46.20.385. Prior law required the device …

Under Washington law DUI is defined by RCW 46.61.502, which states:

(1) A person is guilty of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug if the person drives a vehicle within this state:

(a) And the person has, within two hours after driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 [...]

In an unusual case arising from a Washington State DUI arrest, the Washington Supreme Court today held that a Lummi Nation tribal police officer who witnessed a DUI motorist on the reservation driving at night with high beams and drifting across the center divider could pursue the vehicle off the reservation and then detain the [...]

There is a nationwide push to train police officers as phlebotomists, i.e. blood drawers. This is because the United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that an officer with probable cause can forcibly take a suspects blood. As I write this there are pilot programs in Texas and Idaho to train officers …

As has happened every year recently at Seafair, the Washington State Patrol is joining with other law enforcement agencies to aggressively enforce Washington state’s Boating Under the Influence (BUI) law.  These agencies will be making arrests of persons suspected of boating under the influence and they will be given breath …

A conviction for DUI arising out of a Seattle DUI arrest or a DUI arrest anywhere in Washington State will result in the court ordering the accused to obtain an alcohol evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether an alcohol problem exists so that the court can order the appropriate level of [...]

The Washington State Patrol DUI section has released a report analyzing statistics for DUI arrests occurring in 2008. The statistics were compiled from the database aggregated from data kept on the BAC Verifier DataMaster breath testing machines located throughout Washington State and used for the evidential breath test in a DUI arrest. From this report [...]

Whether it is a Seattle DUI arrest or a DUI arrest anywhere in Washington State, it will include the DUI officer punching a hole in your driver’s license if your breath test is over the legal limit, or if you refuse to take the test. Washington State DUI law does not specify that a hole [...]

If you are stopped on suspicion of DUI by a Seattle DUI police officer or a Washington State Patrol DUI Trooper you will probably be asked to submit to field sobriety tests and then you will be asked to submit to a test of your breath on the “portable breath test” or “PBT.” This is [...]