I read articles.

I go to conferences.

I talk to prosecutors.

And I scour the web for the best information I can bring you.

And here’s a doozy. The WSP has put the Target Zero emphasis maps online for ANYONE to see!

Click here to be taken to the PDF of the WSP Target Zero Emphasis maps.

Now – I’m not one to tell the WSP how to do their jobs – but it seems to me that publishing WHERE the emphasis areas are for everyone to see will simply encourage folks to AVOID those areas of Snohomish County. It’s kind of like school zone cameras. We all know where they are – and we all try to find ALTERNATE routes. We don’t just SLOW DOWN.

So – take a gander at the map – what do you think? Did they hit all the right areas? Are they patrolling where they should be? And do you think this will actually increase Snohomish County DUI arrests?

If you’ve been picked up in a Target Zero stop – or ANY DUI stop – call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter for your FREE CONSULTATION at 425-424-9401 today!

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From The Seattle Times:

Without saying a word, the teenager accused in a two-year string of sometimes shoeless burglaries and other crimes that helped him gain international notoriety as the “Barefoot Bandit” agreed Friday to return to Washington state to face federal charges.

Hector Dopico, an assistant federal public defender temporarily representing 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore, told a federal judge that Harris-Moore waived his right to a hearing on whether he should be transferred to Seattle. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Dube said Harris-Moore would be handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service, which will handle his travel in the coming days.

Dopico also said he had been in contact with an attorney who will represent Harris-Moore in Seattle, but he did not name that lawyer. Harris-Moore’s mother has asked Seattle defense attorney John Henry Browne to represent her son.

As a Lynnwood DUI Attorney, I’ll be following this story closely. I’ve seen Mr. Browne in action before, and am impressed with his ability to nab high profile cases. But let’s not forget that Colton Harris-Moore is not a hero. He’s a kid. With problems. And a HUGE criminal fight on his hands. Let’s hope Mr. Browne is up to the task.

More as the story develops.

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Never has this been more evident than with the new creation of the “Target Zero” task force I posted about earlier this month.

From The News Tribune:

Three DUI emphasis teams operating in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties arrested at least 57 impaired drivers over the holiday weekend.

A multi-agency effort, Target Zero teams contacted 272 drivers during weekend patrols for all traffic violations. Fifty-three of the arrests were made by Washington State Patrol troopers, and four were made by Bellevue police. In the three counties, another 52 impaired drivers were arrested by state troopers who were not part of the Target Zero emphasis patrols.

Only one fatal collision was reported over the weekend, according to a press release. It has not been determined if that collision was alcohol-related. During the shorter 2009 Independence Day weekend, there were no fatalities.

272 drivers were stopped and contacted. A minimum of 57 were actually ARRESTED. The DUI detection process is refining, and you need the best DUI lawyer you can get.

If you were stopped by the Target Zero folks, you need to call Snohomish County DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter at 425-424-9401 for your FREE CONSULTATION now!

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As a Lynnwood DUI Lawyer, I am interested to see if they are simply ramping up enforcement, or are going to be using any real “new” techniques to try to clear the road. They’ll be using the 21 troopers with the best records for arresting DUI drivers.

From The Seattle Times:

Just in time for the Fourth of July weekend, the State Patrol launched a new task force Thursday in three counties dedicated solely to hunting down intoxicated drivers and eliminating drunken-driving fatalities by 2030.

The “Target Zero” teams, made up of 21 troopers with the best records for arresting drunken drivers, will focus all their efforts on catching impaired drivers in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.

Police officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than 30 agencies in the counties will help when they can, the State Patrol said.

Soon after the announcement, a state trooper assigned to a King County team pulled over a 23-year-old man for allegedly driving 24 miles over the speed limit on Interstate 5 in Tukwila.

After taking sobriety tests, the man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Police said a loaded .45-caliber pistol was discovered in the vehicle. The man was booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI) and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Troopers dedicated the program’s first shift Thursday to Nicholas Hodgins, Derek King and Anthony Beaver, victims in a June 10 drunken-driving collision on Interstate 5 in South King County. Hodgins and King, 18-year-old seniors at Decatur High School in Federal Way, were killed; Beaver, 19, was injured.

“We’ll be out there seven days a week” with more manpower on weekends, said State Patrol Chief John Batiste at a new briefing at Boeing Field in Seattle.

In Washington, there has been a yearly average of about 220 deaths for the past eight years resulting from intoxicated-driving collisions, said Batiste.

The consistent number of fatalities is one of the main reasons the Target Zero program is being launched, he said, “because what we were doing before wasn’t working.”

Target Zero is different from similar prevention programs, Batiste said.

“The important thing will be the addition of lots of data,” he said, noting that troopers will have an informed idea of when and where DUIs are likely to occur.

The task force received a two-year grant totaling about $4.5 million from the federal government to hire and train officers to replace the troopers shifted to the program.

Teams will target specific “zones” in each county that are hot spots for DUI activity. The zones, which will be constantly updated, vary by county and are determined from aggregate highway-safety data on where people are arrested, injured and killed in DUI collisions.

“The vast majority of people driving impaired are using a combination of alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs,” said Lowell Porter, director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

In addition to looking at DUIs, Batiste said, the team will examine the correlation between traffic flow and other crimes in the zones. Evidence suggests that an individual who commits a crime like burglary may also drive intoxicated in the same area, he said.

“This is so aggressive, it’s bloody fantastic,” said Laurel Middelaer, whose daughter was killed two years ago near Vancouver, B.C., by a drunken driver. Middelaer has since become an activist for tougher laws and enforcement in British Columbia, where she would like to see Target Zero’s approach.

“If they do this right, it could be a model for change everywhere,” said Middelaer.

It could be a model for change – or a vast increase of the police’s authority to find their ways into the lives of average ordinary citizens who have done nothing more horrible than have one drink too many, and haven’t hurt anyone.

If you find yourself on the wrong end of a “target zero” arrest – you owe it to yourself to call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter for a FREE consultation at 425-424-9401, TODAY.

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From King5.com

SEATTLE– Just weeks before Christmas, Jerome Dumlao lost his life in a crosswalk in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Today, Eric Murillo, the drunk driver convicted of killing him, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

“You really took something special from me. I don’t think you will understand the pain my whole family is going through,” said a tearful Alida Linavat, sister-in-law to Dumlao.

Dumlao’s relatives think Murillo received too light a sentence for his crime of vehicular homicide.
“Murillo’s sentence will never come close to the life sentence of the pain of losing someone we love so dearly,” Jennifer Dumlao told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell.

Despite a plea for leniency, Judge Ramsdell gave Murillo the maximum sentence, saying “I hold the defendant fully accountable.”

Murillo’s case is just one of several high-profile DUI cases in King County Superior Court.

Fifty-year-old Alexander Peder is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide for the June 9 deaths of Decatur High School students Derek King and Nick Hodgins. The teenagers were killed just three days before graduation when Peder plowed his SUV into the back of their stalled car along I-5 in Tukwila.
Troopers say Peder has a blood alcohol level of .16, twice the state legal limit of .08. Investigators say they found an open half bottle of vodka inside the car. This was the third DUI arrest for Peder. He pleaded to lesser charges in the first two cases and not guilty in the latest case.

“We have to get them before they get into the car,” said Conrad Thompson.

The former probation officer is now the chairman of the Snohomish County Target Zero Task Force. Thompson would like the state to turn a voluntary drunk driver alcohol assessment into a mandatory program. He would also like to see the state make a standardized assessment process.
Thompson believes this would cut down on repeat offenders like Peder by forcing them into rehab instead of an 8-hour alcohol information class.

“If a person has a substance abuse problem and they are misdiagnosed, I can almost guarantee they will be back behind the wheel under the influence posing a threat to citizens on the highway,” he said.
New state law allowed a King County judge to convict William Gorsica of felony drunk driving instead of the lesser misdemeanor charge. This is the Federal Way man’s 10th DUI conviction. He faces a maximum five-year sentence.

“That shows this is not working,” says Thompson.

He believes Gorsica should get treatment in addition to the jail time. Already two state senators have expressed interest in Thompson’s plan. Thompson says Washington should follow in the footsteps of Illinois, Tennessee and Oregon, which have tougher assessment and sentencing laws.

As a Lynnwood DUI Attorney, I’ve seen many folks with repeat offenses. But here’s the rub. Why demonize these folks? Anyone can make a mistake. Anyone with a substance abuse problem can make multiple mistakes. Regardless – the public right now is SO galvanized against DUI drivers that if you find yourself in this situation – you NEED quality legal defense. Don’t look for value. Look for THE BEST.

Call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter at 425-424-9401 for your FREE CONSULTATION – he will be compassionate to you and your situation, and yet fight relentlessly against the prosecutor on your behalf.

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As a Lynnwood DUI Attorney, I’ve seen a lot of boneheaded things, but when you’re ALREADY in trouble for a few things – and a lawyer (who’s supposed to be intelligent) – brandishing a knife while DUI is a BAD idea.

This from the Examiner:

In the category of “what was he thinking”, Clallam County prosecutor wanna-be David Russell Fox was arrested today at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SeaTac) after brandishing a knife at a ticket agent. Fox was booked into King County Jail. Bail was set at $3,000.

Fox is an attorney and recently admitted to engaging in sexual activity with a client, claiming that it was consensual. Ethics rules for lawyers prohibit them from starting sexual relationships with their clients, and the sheriff’s office said it would file a complaint with the bar association. To date, the attorney general’s office declined to file charges. Fox claims to be the victim of a “gay witch hunt” and that his clients often fall in love with him.

Fox returned to his vehicle which he had parked on Airport Way and was approached by Port of Seattle officers who had been called by the ticket agent. The agent described Fox as wearing a floppy hat, khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. According to the agent, Fox repeatedly pulled out a knife and asked “weird questions.”

According to the police report: “[Fox] was unsteady on his feet and kept repeating the same questions, telling [the officer] over and over that [the officer] need[ed] to call the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office so they could tell [the officer] who [Fox] was and that he was running for office. [Fox] told [the officer] over and over that he is an attorney, and that I have no right to stop him.”

The report further notes that another officer spotted a marijuana pipe on the passenger’s seat, and a search turned up a bag of marijuana and prescription pills for which Fox had no prescription.

Yes friends. These are the people running for office in your area.

A wise man once said that in order to be an effective prosecutor, you needed to know one question only: “What happened next?”

Apparently there’s a few more things you need to know.

If you find yourself on the other end of a boneheaded mistake – you owe it to yourself to call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter for your FREE CONSULTATION at 425-424-9401.

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If the BAC tests are flawed – shouldn’t we all be able to say they’re flawed?

That’s the sum of the argument.

This from the Everett Herald:

LYNNWOOD — More than 1,000 drunken driving cases in Snohomish County could be gutted in the latest battle defense attorneys are waging over the state toxicology lab’s scientific tests used to measure blood and breath alcohol levels.

Snohomish County District Court Judge Jeffrey Goodwin heard a full day of testimony Monday as defense attorney Ted Vosk argued that the state toxicology lab should calculate the margin of error for tests and those results should be provided to defendants and jurors.

There is a level of uncertainty for any scientific testing, Vosk argued. Test results can be affected by the measuring instruments, the materials being tested and numerous other factors. Jurors should hear the margin of error so they know that the results being provided are not absolute, that, in fact, alcohol levels could be lower than reported, Vosk said.

“All we’re asking is that this information be given to defendants and to the jury,” he said.

People’s lives are significantly impacted by a drunken-driving conviction, Vosk said.

If prosecutors are going to use these tests as evidence, they should be required to show the jury the full picture, the Bellevue lawyer said.

Last year county prosecutors filed nearly 3,000 drunken driving cases and 2,513 included breath-alcohol test results.

Prosecutors argue that the law doesn’t require them to provide an uncertainty calculation for each test. State legislators already have established the hurdles that must be cleared for prosecutors to introduce test results as evidence — a move to clarify drunken-driving law. The margin of error is not among the criteria, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Elise Deschenes said.

Jurors should be allowed to hear the results even if the margin of error isn’t calculated. It is up to the defense attorneys to attack the results, she said.

“It’s just one more way that the defense attorneys are trying to keep out the breath tests,” Deschenes said.

Vosk relied on testimony from Ashley Emery, a University of Washington professor in mechanical engineering. He also is an expert in metrology — the science of measurement. Emery testified that without knowing the uncertainty of any scientific measurement, a person cannot draw any scientific conclusion about the number provided. Without knowing the margin of error, the result can be misconstrued and someone can draw the wrong conclusion, Emery said.

That is a standard understanding in science, he said.

“A defendant shouldn’t have to prove he’s innocent. It’s the state’s burden to prove” that the results are valid, Vosk said.

Deschenes argued that uncertainty calculations are new to the forensic sciences and aren’t standard in the field of breath and blood alcohol testing.

The state toxicology lab is ahead of the curve by being able to calculate the uncertainty of breath alcohol measurements, and it provides that information upon request, Deschenes said. It cannot yet calculate the margin of error for alcohol in blood tests.

Washington’s toxicology lab is among only three in the country that are accredited in the calibration of breath alcohol measuring instruments. It is not a simple process to calculate the margin of error, she said.

The Lynnwood courtroom on Monday was packed with defense attorneys from around the Puget Sound region, police chiefs from around Snohomish County and deputy prosecutors.

Goodwin did not make a ruling Monday, nor did he say when he expects to announce his decision.

If you have a DUI in Snohomish County – you owe it to yourself to make sure the best lawyers are working on it for you. Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter is part of a conglomerate of DUI defense attorneys who are challenging breath tests at every turn. Call for your FREE CONSULTATION at 425-424-9401.

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This from the Olympian:

NORTH BEND, Wash. – A 48-year-old North Bend man sought on a warrant for his ninth drunken driving charge has been arrested at his home.

Washington State Patrol say troopers in King County arrested Stefhan Roy Castellano Saturday after he failed to appear in court May 5 on his ninth DUI charge. A $250,000 warrant had been issued for his arrest. The state patrol says Castellano was intoxicated when he was taken into custody. He was booked into the King County Jail Saturday.

It’s incredible that someone would be able to rack up NINE DUI charges and still manage to be out of custody. We all know the Washington DUI laws are draconian – but how do we not have him in custody?

Regardless – he’s going to need a skilled and talented DUI Attorney. If you need a skilled and talented DUI attorney, call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter at 425-424-9401 for your FREE CONSULTATION!

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It seems that a veteran WSP sergeant got himself into a bit of an automobile accident while having consumed alcohol. After his accident – he tried to get a rookie trooper to come “help him out” – no doubt hoping that he wouldn’t end up in cuffs.

From the Seattle PI:

A veteran sergeant with the Washington State Patrol is accused of driving under the influence, then trying to get the help of a rookie trooper to cover it up.

WSP investigators said Sgt. Coy C. Clark was off duty early Saturday when he drove his car off the road in Puyallup along Canyon Road near 104th Street.

Clark, a 21-year veteran of the force, called his rookie trooper on duty.

“He called an on-duty trooper that works for him to respond, and assist him. And upon the trooper getting there, he got indications the off-duty sergeant may be possibly DUI,” said Capt. Jason Berry.

Suspecting Clark was intoxicated, the young trooper called for backup.

Clark passed a breathalyzer test, but failed a field sobriety test and was placed under arrest.

The State Patrol said Clark’s actions imply he wanted to cover up the fact he may have been drunk driving. The 22-year-old rookie had a tough decision to make, but ultimately decided to call in backup, officials said.

“Faced with a precarious situation of ‘what do I do here with my sergeant that’s called me to help?’ he did the right thing reporting the potential misconduct,” said Berry.

Clark has been placed on paid administrative leave. His case has been forwarded to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.

Here’s the long and the short of it folks. Anyone – and I mean ANYONE – can make a simple mistake and get behind the wheel after having had one too many. However – it is an interesting statement about how draconian and harsh Washington DUI laws are that a State Trooper would try to cover things up rather than just deal with his mistake.

If you have made the same mistake as our WSP friend – you owe it to yourself to find the best representation around. Call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter at 425-424-9401 now for your FREE CONSULTATION!

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Take for example, this morning’s crash outside Everett.

From The Seattle PI:

Investigators say a crash that killed a man on Interstate 5 in Everett early Monday was caused by a drunken driver.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary said a man driving a pickup truck in the southbound lanes of the freeway drifted out of his lane about 2:30 a.m. and slammed into an empty flatbed truck that was parked on the shoulder of the highway.

The passenger in the pickup truck died at the scene, and the driver was taken to Providence Colby Hospital.

Leary said the driver was believed to be drunk at the time of the crash, and investigators found several open beer containers in the wrecked truck.

No one was inside the flatbed truck that was hit.

Troopers shut down two of the southbound lanes of I-5 at the crash scene near the Everett Mall for several hours while they collected evidence and worked to clear the vehicles.

Leary said the crash was one of 60 suspected drunken driving cases troopers dealt with over the weekend.

“This is why we’re out here every single day, to get these folks out and off the road so something like this doesn’t happen,” he said.

The driver was expected to be booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of vehicular homicide when he is released from the hospital.

The name of the man who was killed has not been released.

Here’s the problem with this article. The driver is in the hospital right now – we have no idea what (if anything) his blood alcohol content was. And linking the crash immediately to DUI poisons the potential jury that may or may not preside over this man’s case. What ever happened to innocent unless proven otherwise? Apparently the freedom of the press trumps that right.

Regardless, if YOU find yourself on the other side of a DUI allegation, call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter – who understands how a DUI can affect the rest of your life – and is willing and able to work hard to prevent it from doing so. He offers a FREE CONSULTATION at 425-424-9401.

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