In Washington State there are commonly two ways a prosecutor tries to prove someone drove while under the influence of alcohol. First, they try to prove the defendant was DUI by the tried-and-true ‘totality of the circumstances’; I refer to this as the ‘throw the bowl of noodles against the wall and see what sticks’ approach. Second, they try to establish that the
defendant was operating a motor vehicle with a BAC of .08 or greater within two hours of driving. As to the latter method, the following are some ways that SQ Attorneys has succeeded in getting breath tests thrown out in the past:
•The officer failed to read the implied consent warnings, as is required by Revised Code of Washington (‘RCW’) 46.20.308.
•The officer read the incorrect implied consent warnings (for various reasons these warnings have been modified over the years).
•The person was confused about the implied consent warnings and that confusion was not clarified, as is required by Washington state case law.
•The officer was not properly certified to give a breath test, as is required by the Washington Administrative Code (‘WAC’) and the RCW.
•The officer did not check the person’s mouth prior to giving a breath test, as is required by the WAC’s and the RCW’s.
•The officer did not observe the person for 15 minutes prior to the breath test being administered, as required by RCW 46.61.506.
•The person had mouth jewelry in his mouth at the time of the breath test, which violates the WAC and RCW.
•The person had chewing tobacco in his mouth at the time of the breath test, which violates the WAC and RCW.
•The person put a ‘foreign substance’ in his mouth prior to the breath test, which violates Washington State DUI law.
•The breath test machine read an “invalid” sample and the officer did not do a new mouth check, as is required by Washington State DUI law.
•The breath test instrument failed to go through a proper “quality assurance procedure”, as required by law.
Although there are other ways to prevail in either suppressing a BAC test result, or outright having a DUI case reduced or dismissed in Washington State, the examples above are but a few of the more common ways that SQ Attorneys has been successful in their DUI cases.
If you (or a loved one) have been arrested and cited for DUI in Washington State you should immediately seek the assistance of a Seattle DUI lawyer. A qualified and respected Seattle DUI attorney, among other things, can quite possibly save you thousands of dollars in court and insurance fees, extent of loss of privilege to drive and amount of jail time to be served. Washington traffic laws are far too complicated for any ol’ attorney to handle. Be smart and hire a qualified and skilled Seattle DUI attorney when arrested for an alcohol and/or drug related DUI in Washington State.