Often, a person charged with driving while under the influence will face additional, related charges. Attempting to elude police is one such charge. Sometimes, a person may feel they are justified in not stopping for the police officer, but a necessity defense is very difficult to prove in this type…
Under Washington law, police must advise individuals of the right to independent testing when a breath test is administered pursuant to the implied consent statute. Under a previous version of the statute, this information was also required for blood tests. A Washington appeals court has recently addressed whether police must…
Criminal cases often hinge on whether evidence is admissible. Evidence obtained through an unlawful search is generally inadmissible. Vehicles can be especially vulnerable to questionable searches. A recent case considered whether drug evidence seized in an inventory search of an impounded motorcycle should have been suppressed. A trooper stopped the defendant…
The prosecution is generally required to prove some level of intent, or mens rea, to succeed in obtaining a guilty verdict in a criminal case. Some offenses, however, are strict liability offenses, meaning the prosecution does not have to prove intent. A Washington appeals court recently considered whether the vehicular…
Implied consent is an important aspect of DUI defense. The Washington implied consent statute, RCW 46.20.308, requires officers to inform a driver suspected of DUI of certain consequences of refusing or submitting to a breath test. When recreational marijuana use was decriminalized in Washington, the legislature set a legal limit…
In Washington criminal cases, the prosecution must disclose upon written demand the names and addresses of the people it “intends to call as witnesses . . .” and any expert witnesses it intends to call at trial, if that information is within its knowledge, possession, or control. The Washington Court…
Under the missing witness doctrine, if a person who could have been called to testify is not, the jury may infer that person’s testimony would have been unfavorable to the party who naturally would have called him or her. This doctrine and the associated jury instruction can be highly detrimental…
In a significant ruling, Washington’s highest court tackled the question of whether a defendant’s refusal to perform a field sobriety test may be used against him at trial on a charge of driving under the influence (DUI). The court ultimately held that a field sobriety test is not a search…
Police officers must generally follow statutory and constitutional protections when arresting or interacting with individuals. In a recent case, the Washington Court of Appeals addressed the consequences of failing to provide the required statutory warnings before administering a breath test to a defendant arrested for driving under the influence (DUI).…
In an important decision, the Court of Appeals of Washington addressed the issue of whether a warrantless blood test violated the rights of a defendant charged with driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana. In City of Seattle v. Pearson (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 29, 2016), the defendant struck a…