Olympia DUI Lawyer Blog

In Florida, a naked man was pulled over on interstate 75. The man was unable to tell police where he was coming from or why he was naked. He was arrested and booked on charges of DUI. He has 4 prior DUI convictions.

In Washington, not only could this man be charged with indecent exposure, if his 4 prior DUI convictions occurred within the last 10 years, he could be charged with felony DUI.

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in City of Seattle v. St. John
that police can obtain a warrant to perform a blood draw on a DUI suspect even after that suspect refuses a blood alcohol content (BAC) test. The court ruled that neither the implied consent statue, due process, nor equitable estoppel preclude an officer from seeking a search warrant. Justice Owens authored the opinion, joined by all but the two dissenters: Justice Sanders and Justice Johnson.

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in State v. Rivera-Santos that a DUI that crosses state lines can be tried in both the outside state and in Washington under Washington law without violating double jeopardy. Santiago Rivera-Santos allegedly drove a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol from southern Washington into northern Oregon on January 12, 2007. Rivera-Santos was convicted of DUI in Oregon. The Supreme Court ruled that though he had previously been convicted of DUI in Oregon, he can also be charged in Washington without violating Washington's double jeopardy statue as the crime was committed in two separate jurisdictions.

19 states, including Washington, have laws prohibiting texting while driving. In most state, violation of texting while driving and/or violating hands-free device rules is punishable only by a fine. Utah recently enacted SB149 by unanimous vote, which criminalizes texting while driving. The new law effectively elevates violation of the texting while driving law such that it is punishable by the same penalties as DUI. The bill mandates that the first offense for texting while driving is a misdemeanor. If a texting driver inflicts bodily injury in an accident, they can be convicted of a Class A misdemeanor or a third-degree felony. A driver who is texting can also face a third-degree felony charge if they have two prior texting convictions within the past 10 years or if an accident while texting results in a death.

In Washington, texting while driving and driving while using a phone without a hands-free device are both currently secondary infractions, which means that law enforcement can not pull drivers over for violation of these rules unless there is another permissible reason for the stop, such as speeding, etc. This could change, however, if the bill sponsored by Senators Robert Menendez (NJ), Charles Schumer (NY) Mary Landrieu (A), and Kay Hagan (NC) that seeks to deny highway funding from states that do not implement the ban after two years passes. Though highway bills are not mandatory on the states, if a state chooses not to adopt the bill it will not receive highway funding from the federal government. Highway bills and the money that comes attached to adopting them resulted in every state adopting the national drinking age of 21 and the blood alcohol content (BAC) limit of .08, and may also result in mandatory ignition interlock devices for those convicted of DUI should the pending house bill sponsored by MADD pass.

People make mistakes. Clients often come to me horrified that they have been charged with a DUI. I tell them that good people can make mistakes. Perhaps they will be more inclined to believe me when I tell them that a nun from Long Island was charged with DUI after crashing her church's van into a tree. She registered a BAC of .18, over twice the legal limit. An open container of alcohol was found in her church vehicle. Anyone, simply anyone, can make a mistake.