Newsroom

Businesswire.com recently reported that a company is developing technology that detects a person’s alcohol level by measuring having the subject place a finger on a device known as the TruTouch 2000.  The device was announced as being aimed at industry and at law enforcement such as Washington state DUI squads for use in DUI trials. There, accurate measurement [...]

This holiday season, the DUI emphasis patrols will be out in King County and throughout Washington State, patrolling in an increased effort to make DUI arrests. Undoubtedly, DUI arrests will occur. In some of those cases, the driver will be arrested and charged with DUI despite making a good faith …

One of the “standardized” field sobriety tests routinely given in a Seattle DUI arrest is the “eye test” otherwise known as the test for Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus. In this test, the DUI arresting officer looks for “bouncing” or “jerking” of the eyes as they follow a stimulus, usually a finger or a pen. If the [...]

Technology is wonderful.  However, it can be liberating or it can be a ball and chain. In DUI cases, more and more frequently these days, judges are using technology to monitor people who were arrested and charged with DUI, but who have not yet been found guilty of anything. These citizens are simply awaiting their day in court [...]

Every DUI stop, whether a DUI in Seattle, Bellevue, King County, or a DUI stop elsewhere in Washington State, is likely to involve field sobriety tests. Most people submit to the field sobriety tests on the assumption that (1) they are required to take the tests and (2) if they “pass” the field sobriety tests, [...]

DUI defense attorneys in Washington State have been arguing for years now that field tests require some level of consent. Although the higher courts have repeatedly agreed that field tests are voluntary, they have offered no guidance in determining what level of consent is required to determine whether or not a person volunteered to participate. [...]

For years DUI defense lawyers in this state have tried to convince judges that field sobriety tests must be conducted in compliance with the guidelines established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Given NHTSA’s bright line disclaimer in its student manual validating the field tests only when the tests are …