DUI tests frequently tossed out; 2004 law backfired

The Seattle Times has an article about how hundreds of people accused of drunken driving have had the results of their breath-alcohol tests tossed out of court over the past year, foiling state legislators' efforts to make the tests more lawyer-proof. A summary follows:

In one high-profile case, Seattle Sonics forward Rashard Lewis, whose breath-alcohol level measured 0.13 (the legal limit is 0.08) after he was stopped Oct. 1 on Mercer Island, successfully argued Monday that a 2004 law governing breath tests is unconstitutional. His argument, like that of hundreds of other defendants, is that legislators overstepped their authority in writing the law, leaving judges without as much discretion.

...In the meantime, nearly every judge in King County who has considered the issue, in addition to judges in about half of the state's other counties, have ruled that the law is unconstitutional, according to Pam Loginsky, staff attorney for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

...The problem lies in the wording of the law, SHB 3055, which took effect in June 2004 and says breath-alcohol test results "shall be admissible at trial" as long as certain basic steps are followed.

...Previously, the judge would hold a hearing and weigh the arguments on each side before deciding whether to admit the breath-test results.

...Instead, defense lawyers had tried to find flaws in the process, however minor, to convince a judge the breath-alcohol test results should not be admitted into evidence.

...Some rejected breath-test results altogether, while others required the prosecution to prove their reliability at a pretrial hearing — essentially reverting to the old rules.

At the state Supreme Court, defense lawyers also argued that the new law tips the scales in favor of the prosecution.

...In addition, prosecutors point out that other types of scientific tests, such as DNA, are admitted into evidence without prosecutors having to jump through the sort of hoops DUI defense lawyers seem to be advocating.

Breath test in Sonic DUI case thrown out

Koin5.com has an interesting article this morning detailing how a Seattle Supersonic beat his DUI rap. A summary of the article follows:

A breathalyzer test result to be used as evidence that Seattle Supersonics star forward was driving drunk last fall was thrown out of court Monday.... %u201CWe still have the results of the field sobriety test,%u201D Donahoe said, as well as the statements of the officer who made the stop.... Lewis was charged Dec. 5 with drunken driving after he was stopped more than two months earlier while driving his BMW on eastbound I-90 between Seattle and Mercer Island.... When stopped, his eyes were watery and his speech slurred, according the report, and the car smelled of alcohol. The trooper who made the stop wrote in his report that when he asked Lewis how much he had had to drink, Lewis responded, %u201Conly one.%u201D A pair of breath alcohol tests reportedly showed that Lewis had a blood-alcohol level of .132 and .122 about an hour after he was stopped, according to charging papers.

...Driving while under the influence is a gross misdemeanor which brings a minimum of one day in jail, up to a $5,000 fine and a 90-day license suspension.

Taking on the drugged and drunk driver

I found a great article over at NewScientist.com about roadside devices to test people's motor skills and detect drug. The first part of the article follows:

IN A government lab in a bleak, misty field in the middle of the English countryside, I am playing with a gadget that looks not unlike a PlayStation Portable. I have to press one button when an arrow on the screen fleetingly points to the right, and another when it points to the left. How quickly I respond is used as a measure of my sobriety.

Forget breathalysers and walking the line: tomorrow's drunk or drugged drivers could be rumbled by police officers wielding just such a gadget. And if the software says someone's psychomotor skills are as impaired as their driving suggests, a sliver of silicon will then be produced to indicate from a saliva sample just what they have been imbibing, injecting, smoking or snorting.

At least, that's the hope of researchers at the UK government's Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB), who last week opened their rural ...

Originally posted at Pacific Northwest DUI News.

Sheriff Rahr's overtime problem

According to an article over at the Seattle Times, some cops are logging overtime by making faulty DUI pullovers. A summarry of the article follows:

TALES of overtime riches in the King County Sheriff's Department raise unsettling questions about the mental and physical fitness of deputies who work stupendous amounts of OT.

...Deputies get paid overtime when they appear in court, so if they are subpoenaed for 8:30 a.m. and sit around until they are called at 2 p.m., they are on the clock.

...Being assured the sheriff's department is within its overtime budget %u2014 which it has not been in the past %u2014 does not offer much comfort. Overtime in some agencies is parsed out to federal contracts for special enforcement %u2014 drunken driving, seat-belt use %u2014 so who knows where the money is coming from, but taxpayers are paying.

...Most of all, tell the public they are getting fit, alert deputies who can make good decisions after hyper-extended hours on the job.