Guilty plea entered in latest DUI charge

Here she is again: yep it is the lady who got six DUI violations awhile back, that really sent the public into an uproar. "How could she still be driving?" The newest episode was found at the Seattle Times and deals with her admission of guilt:

One of the state's most well-known drunken-driving defendants pleaded guilty Tuesday to a driving-under-the-influence charge.

The surprise plea was entered by Susan West, who was convicted in 1997 of killing a woman on the Sammamish Plateau and sentenced to nine years in prison.

West faces a sentence of up to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail for the new DUI conviction.

Her attorney, Cara Starr, said she had no comment on the plea.

"No, no explanation," she said.

West's most recent citation stemmed from a June 18 incident in Bellevue, when an officer stopped her car in the Newport Hills area after noticing an inoperative license-plate light. The officer determined West's speech was slurred and that she showed other signs of intoxication, so she was arrested. She refused to take a breath test. West also was found to be driving without a valid license; that charge was dismissed as part of Tuesday's plea agreement.

West had previously pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge and had been scheduled to face rulings today in Bellevue District Court on various motions entered by the defense and prosecution in her case.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Friday, with a panel of 100 potential jurors expected to be called, rather than the normal 30, because of what West's attorney called extensive pretrial publicity.

"It was a surprise that she entered a plea," said Lori Riordan, Bellevue city attorney.

In the summer of 1997, West struck Mary Johnsen, 38, who was walking with her husband on the Sammamish Plateau. Johnsen was thrown 146 feet, and West drove away without stopping. She later was found to have a 0.34 percent blood-alcohol reading, more than three times the level that was then the drunken-driving threshold.

West pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, hit-and-run driving, reckless driving and reckless endangerment. She served six years of her nine-year sentence and had been living in an apartment in the Newport Hills area since her release. "You became a human bomb," said King County Superior Court Judge Larry Jordan when he sentenced West in November 1997, noting her long history of alcoholism problems. "Tragically, the previous orders from the court had no impact."

West is to be sentenced for her most recent offense Aug. 28.

Coors Pleads Not Guilty to DUI Charge

Ironic? You bet! The head of the Coors brewing empire and a former candidate for senate gets a DUI. I found this article at the Washington Post:

Beer company executive Pete Coors has pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence and failing to stop at a stop sign.

His attorney entered the pleas for him Tuesday and Coors did not appear in court, said Jefferson County district attorney's spokeswoman Pam Russell.

Peter Coors, head of Coors Brewing company in Golden, Colo., is shown in this, July 1, 2004, file photo. Coors driver's license has been revoked by a hearing officer who ruled the executive had been driving under the influence of alcohol, officials said. Hearing officer Scott Garber ruled Friday, July 14, 2006, that Coors did not stop at a stop sign on May 28 and was driving intoxicated.

Coors, 59, vice chairman and a director of Molson Coors Brewing Co., was pulled over by the state patrol May 28 after he left a friend's wedding celebration.

Company spokeswoman Kabira Hatland has said Coors rolled through a stop sign a block from his Golden home and was stopped by the officer in his driveway. She said a breath test showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.088. The legal limit is 0.08.

Hatland said Wednesday the not guilty plea was part of the procedure of Coors' attorney asking for a pretrial hearing. She declined to say whether the plea indicated Coors was disputing the allegation.

"What I can say is he's sorry to be involved in this situation at all, including the court process, but like any citizen, he has rights now that he's here," she said.

Coors often appears in television ads for the company and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2004. He apologized last week for not following his own advice to drink responsibly.

Coors lives just west of Denver in Golden, the longtime hometown of the Adolph Coors Co. until it became Molson Coors Brewing Co. after a 2005 merger.

This posting originally appears at: Pacific Northwest DUI News

Southwest pilot, accused of intoxication, charged in federal court

It is a serious crime to get behind the wheel intoxicated and that is why the penalties for a DUI is so serious, now imagine the serious nature of an airline pilot flying a crowded flight under the influence of alchol. I have included the full text of the article found at the seattle times.

SALT LAKE CITY – A Southwest Airlines co-pilot accused of being intoxicated just minutes before takeoff was charged in federal court here Monday.

Prosecutors have charged Carl Fulton, 41, with one count of operation of a common carrier under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Fulton made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Monday, but did not enter a plea to the charge.

A preliminary hearing date was set for July 28, although Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kennedy said he intends to take the case to a grand jury, so the hearing may not be necessary.

Fulton was arrested Sunday morning after a Transportation Security Administration screener reported smelling alcohol on Fulton's breath at a security check point. That was about 30 minutes before Southwest Flight 136, on which Fulton was the first officer, was set to depart from Salt Lake City International Airport for Phoenix.

Court documents say Fulton told federal air marshals and police he had consumed two "large beers" at a local movie house that serves food and beer, and a third drink — vodka — at a bar in the hotel where Fulton was staying.

Fulton said he stopped drinking at 10 p.m. Saturday, according to court documents.

Airport police administered two breathalyzer tests on Fulton.

In the first test, taken one hour after Fulton was removed from the plane's cockpit and detained, his blood-alcohol level was .039 percent, court documents said. In a second test, taken six minutes later, Fulton's blood-alcohol level was .038 percent.

Daniel Love, an air marshal with the U.S. Marshal Service, said it was "mathematically not possible to have a BAC of .039 the following day if Fulton had only consumed three drinks," the documents said.

Federal Aviation Administration guidelines say a pilot is prohibited from flying within eight hours of consuming alcohol.

The FAA sets the blood-alcohol limit at .04 percent, although regulations state that if a pilot tests between .02 percent and .039 percent, he or she is not allowed to work. Regulations also call for a second blood-alcohol test within 30 minutes of the first test, and say that if the blood-alcohol range remains the same, the pilot can't work for another eight hours, or until the level drops below .02 percent.

Federal law provides a presumption of impairment at .10 percent, although federal prosecutors say that other forms of evidence can be used to prove impairment in court.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines spokesman Ed Stewart said the company subscribes to all FAA regulations regarding alcohol consumption. Fulton flies for Southwest out of Dallas and has been employed with the airline for two years.

He has "a perfectly clear record," Stewart said.

Southwest has placed Fulton on paid leave — which prohibits him from flying — pending the outcome on an internal investigation. What action the airline may take does not necessarily depend on the criminal proceedings, Stewart said.

Fulton, of Fort Worth, Texas, spent Sunday night in the Salt Lake County Jail. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner released Fulton from custody Monday, on the condition that he not use drugs or alcohol while the case is being adjudicated. Warner also ordered Fulton to undergo random drug and alcohol testing.

FAA officials are also investigating the allegations and interviewed Fulton on Sunday.

The agency regularly matches pilot's names against DUI data in the national driver's licenses registry, FAA Northwest Region spokesman Allen Kenitizer said. The agency also requires airlines to have random testing programs in place. Between 2000 and 2003, more than 10,200 pilots were tested, FAA data show.

6 DUIs & 1 killing

Soory I haven't been around in awhile, but I am back with new news relating to DUI in the washington and oregon territories. This weeks little ditty comes from king county journal

Appearing weary and disheveled, Susan Lynn West sat before a judge in King County District Court in Bellevue on Monday to answer to charges of driving while intoxicated for the sixth time.

After a week in rehab, The 48-year-old Bellevue woman trembled and had difficulty walking. Bellevue police officers led her to and from the court room in nylon shackles that secured her wrists to her waist.

West, who previously was convicted of driving drunk in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Sammamish Plateau woman in 1997, chose not to enter a plea at her arraignment Monday for charges of drunken driving and driving with a suspended license in the third degree.

As state law requires, Judge Janet Garrow entered a plea of not guilty on West's behalf. The law states that defendants charged with driving under the influence are not required to enter a plea until they have had a chance to consult with a lawyer.

After the hearing, West was returned to the King County Jail in Seattle, where she remained Monday night in lieu of $150,000 bail.

West has not retained a defense attorney. She was appointed a public defender for Monday's hearing.

She was arrested for drunken driving shortly after midnight on June 18, approximately six months after she was released from probation for the drunken crash that killed Mary Johnsen, a 38-year-old mother of two who was walking off the roadway when she was struck in July 1997.

In West's most recent arrest, charging papers say, a Bellevue police officer noticed a broken license-plate light on her black 1998 Buick as it was driving through the parking lot of a Newport Hills shopping center. The officer ran the plate number and discovered the car's owner had a suspended license and no car insurance.

The officer stopping West reported that he immediately smelled alcohol on her breath. When he asked if she had been drinking, she leaned against the car and said no. When he asked if she would mind performing a sobriety test, she protested, saying she didn't have her contact lenses.

After failing the test, the charges state, West refused to submit to a breath test. She was then taken into custody and hospitalized for alcohol-dependency treatment.

Charging papers say West also was on antidepressants at the time of her arrest.

In court Monday, Judge Garrow advised West to retain an attorney or apply for a public defender. When asked about her assets, West told the judge that she has approximately $160,000 in stock and bonds, which might make it difficult for her to obtain court-appointed counsel.

West attracted widespread attention after her 1997 conviction for vehicular homicide. In that incident, court records state, her blood-alcohol level was 0.34, more than three times the legal limit. West pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and felony hit-and-run.

She served six years of a nine-year sentence, was released from prison in 2003 and got off probation in January of this year.

Prior to the fatal accident, West was arrested for drunken driving in Pullman in 1978, in Seattle in 1985, in Marysville in 1989 and in Fall City in 1991. Two of the cases were deferred, and one was dismissed.

Because she'd been arrested four times for drunken driving prior to the fatal accident, her case spurred several new state laws in 1998 designed to crack down on drunken drivers.

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a law making it a felony to have a fifth DUI conviction in 10 years or a DUI conviction after a prior vehicular homicide conviction.

But since that law becomes effective in July 2007, it doesn't apply to West. Her latest charge is a gross misdemeanor offense, not a felony, and carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine, according to Bellevue City Attorney Lori Riordan. Driving with a suspended license in the third degree carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

West is due back in court for a pretrial hearing in two weeks.

Originally posted at Pacific Northwest DUI News

Ignition Interlock

An ignition interlock device is a breath alcohol analyzer connected to the ignition of a car. A vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device cannot be driven unless the driver passes the unit's breath alcohol tests.

Most of these devices work in the following manner:

• When the key is turned a voice prompts the driver to prepare to give a breath test.
• The driver has over 60 seconds to provide a deep lung breath sample--at a pressure rate of 1.5 liters of air given over six seconds--providing the unit with a sample of alveolar air from the bottom of the lungs.
• Testing the sample takes 25 seconds.
• After test completion, a voice either prompts the driver to start the car or lets him/her know it will not start.
• To discourage someone else from providing the original breath sample (a violation of the law when using Model DM-904, the model used when an ignition interlock system is mandated by the court), two "random rolling retests" are given within 20 minutes of starting.
• If a retest is failed a voice instructs the driver to pull over and shut off the car. If this instruction is ignored the horn sounds and the lights blink until the car is shut off.
• The unit's computer records all test and pertinent driving data. This is downloadable and printable. In the case of mandatory use, this data can only be accessed by court officials. Any attempt at tampering with the unit registers in this data log.

This article was originally posted at: Pacific Northwest DUI News

I just found a really interesting article on 'How Breathalyzers Work'. I am just posting the bginning of the article, but the rest can be found at howstuffworks.com:

We hear and read about drivers involved in an accident who are later charged with drunken driving, and usually a news report on the accident will say what the driver's blood alcohol level was and what the legal limit for blood alcohol is. A driver might be found to have a level of 0.15, for example, and the legal limit is 0.08. But what do those figures mean? And how do police officers find out if a driver they suspect has been drinking is actually legally drunk? You have probably heard about the Breathalyzer, but may wonder exactly how a person's breath can show how much that person has had to drink.

It is important for public safety that drunken drivers be taken off the roads. Of the 42,000 traffic deaths in the United States in 1999, about 38 percent were related to alcohol. Drivers who can pass roadside sobriety tests -- they can touch their noses or walk a straight line -- still might be breaking the legal limit for blood alcohol and be a hazard on the road. So police officers use some of the latest technology to detect alcohol levels in suspected drunken drivers and remove them from the streets.

Many officers in the field rely on breath alcohol testing devices (Breathalyzer is one type) to determine the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in drunken-driving suspects. In this article, we will examine the scientific principles and technology behind these breath alcohol testing devices.

This post can originally be found at pacific northwest dui news.

Acting liquor chief named after DUI arrest of former director

Well it sounds like Oregon is filled with a bunch of hypocrites, at least as far as alcohol and DUIs go. Here is a little article from msnbc.com that illustrates what I am saying:

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission appointed Steve Pharo to serve as acting director today following the resignation of the executive director, who was arrested for drunken driving.

Teresa Kaiser resigned her post Thursday. She has also been charged reckless driving.

Pharo currently is director of merchandising for the agency. He will serve as acting administrator until a permanent replacement is found for Kaiser.

Pharo pledged to bring a "steadying hand" to an agency that was embarrassed by the disclosure that its top official had been arrested for drunken driving.

Portland police arrested 56-year-old Kaiser last Saturday night. This, after officers responded to a two-car accident on the west end of the Sellwood Bridge.

A breath test placed Kaiser's blood alcohol level at twice the legal limit for driving in Oregon.

Originally posted at: Oregon DUI News