Const Law

The Oprah Show is offering a stream of their Monday, Jan. 18th show entitled, “This Show Could Save Your Life: America’s New Deadly Obsession.” 

Here is the show description:

Would you get in your car and drive after having four drinks?  Statistics show that talking on the phone or texting while driving is just as dangerous as driving drunk.  It is Oprah’s hope that seeing this show will be a seminal moment in your life and that you will be inspired to make your car a no phone zone.  Throughout the show, courageous families shared personal stories of how they’ve paid the ultimate price for America’s deadly habit when they lost loved ones because of distracted drivers.  And, three people who all thought they could multi-task while driving were put to the ultimate road test by the experts at Car and Driver Magazine.  The results were shocking!  The members of our audience all pledged to make their car a no phone zone. Will you?

The Senate Transportation Committee held a meeting on Monday, January 17, 2010. One of the debates revolves around toughening the Washington state’s traffic laws as they relate to using cell phones while driving. Specifically, the new law would allow WA state law enforcement officers to pull over drivers that they observe holding a cell phone to their ear while driving.  The fine for this violation would be $124.

Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, is the leading proponent for this bill and is sponsoring it.  In addition to the above change of the law, this bill would also prohibit drivers under the age of 18 from talking on cell phones entirely while driving, including phones that are equipped with “hands-free” devices.

Debate is expected from both sides of each of these proposed new WA traffic laws.  One side believes it would overburden already stretched police officers and the other believes that it is a public safety issue warranting immediate action.

Sen. Eide believes this issue to be in the same category as a DUI.

“It’s the equivalent to drunk driving. We don’t tolerate drunks in Washington State,” she said. “It’s time to say, ‘Hang up and drive.’”  Many believe, however, that her comparison to Washington DUI law is a stretch.

January 15, 2010

Utah state senator Sheldon Killpack was arrested Friday in Salt Lake City on suspicion of DUI.  The Utah highway patrol pulled the senate majority leader over after a police officer noticed that his vehicle was exhibiting a “poor driving pattern”.  Many Washington DUI cases begin with a similar traffic stop.

The police officer asked Senator Killpack to exit the vehicle and perform a series of standardized field sobriety tests, but Mr. Killpack appears to have refused.  He also refused to take a portable breath test.

He was booked into the Salt Lake county jail and was later released. According to the Utah Highway Patrol, Mr. Killpack’s blood test results will take two weeks to a month to be properly processed.

Utah Republican party chairman Dave Hansen said that this kind of incident is inexcusable for anyone, especially for those in a position of the public trust.

January 13, 2010

A Readfield man, whose car hit and killed a 21 year old camp counselor,  plead guilty to DUI charges and was sentenced to prison for eight years.            

He was sentenced Tuesday in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta. 

There were two victims of the July 27th crash. One was Corrie Lazar of Seattle, who was killed.  The second victim, counselor Mia Jessup of San Clemente, California, was seriously injured. 

Both were counselors at Camp Laurel in Mount Vernon. 

According to the police, Rouleau lost control of his vehicle, which went off the road and flipped, hitting Lazar and Jessup who were walking along the road.

January 12, 2010

Pittsburg State football coach Chuck Broyles got some good news and legal relief when his South Kansas prosecutor dropped the DUI charge against him.

This decision was announced by Galena City Attorney Kevin Cure on Tuesday.  The attorney says that the machine used to test Broyel’s blood-alcohol level had not been properly calibrated.

Coach Broyles was pulled over for speeding.  He was later given a blood-test and charged with misdemeanor DUI.

Broyel’s announced after his arrest that he was retiring after 20 years as the Gorilla’s head football coach.

January 11, 2010           

WARWICK , RI

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor arrest sparked an internal investigation into whether or not the local police treated him favorably, and the DUI charges against him have been dropped.

A Warwick judge dropped the charge against Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard Sullivan at the city lawyer’s request.

Robert Sgroi says he made the recommendation in part due to Sullivan admitting last week that there was sufficient evidence to prove that he refused a chemical breath test when he was pulled over early on Thanksgiving morning.  As a result, he lost his driver’s license for seven months.

Sullivan mentioned several times to the Warwick police that he was a federal prosecutor and knew their chief.  The chief has ordered an internal inquiry into why Sullivan was not initially charged with DUI.

Washington State Patrol confirmed that there were no alcohol related crashes on any WA state highways over the New Year Weekend.

The only fatality recorded in the Washington state was the death of Grand county deputy John Bernard.  Tragically, his car crashed and rolled on a rural road near Ephrata on Sunday while he was on duty and patrolling.

There were five alcohol related losses noted last year in the state.

There was also a significant drop in DUI arrests this year.  According to recent Washington DUI statistics, there were 291 people arrested for DUI last year between 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon and midnight on Sunday.  The number of Washington State DUI arrests this year was 257.

NORTH GEORGIA

Barry Miller of McGuire Jennings Miller Funeral Home, in north Georgia, advertised a free funeral to anyone who would admit beforehand to planning on driving drunk on New Years Eve.  No one signed up.

Mr. Miller lost a family member years ago, because of a drunk driver, and is an advocate against drinking and driving.

Mr. Miller has extended this offer in previous years, both in Georgia and also in Tennessee.  Only one person has ever enquired about his offer, but failed to sign the agreement.  In the future, if anyone were to sign an agreement, Mr. Miller would immediately notify the authorities regarding the situation, so that they could monitor the situation.

A Washington State driver who gets pulled over for suspicion of DUI will often take a breathalyzer test after being arrested.  The breathalyzers are calibrated with a special solution created at the state toxicology lab.  A couple of years ago, it was discovered that a manager was falsifying the certifications and this information was widely used by defense attorneys on behalf of their Washington DUI clients.

New procedures have been installed at the lab and it is now only 1 of 4 programs to be accredited by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, though many WA State criminal defense lawyers remain skeptical of the lab’s procedures and trustworthiness.

A deputy prosecutor in Snohomish County, Charlie Blackman, claims that the lab accreditation will be helpful to prosecute Everett DUI cases.

Breathalyzer tests are not always accurate.  There is a “margin of error” that is widely acknowledge, even in the scientific community.  This can result in a test being off by up to .02% on either the high or low side of a sample.

It is anticipated that next year new breathalyzer machines will be purchased.  These new breathalyzer machines claim to be able to calculate for the “margin of error”.  Once again, however, many Washington drunk driving attorneys are skeptical and plan on vigorously challenging the new machine’s accuracy.