Category: DUI Topics

At the time of DUI arrest, the police officer will punch a hole in your Washington State driver’s license. Your driver’s license status becomes temporary and will automatically suspend 60 days from your arrest date, unless you schedule an administrative hearing with the Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) within 7 days of your arrest.

You may still drive within the 60 days that your temporary driver’s license is valid. If you receive a hearing date that is farther than 60 days from your arrest date, your temporary license will remain valid until a decision is made at your hearing (not to exceed 150 days from the arrest date).

The form to request a hearing should have been given to you by the arresting police officer, but you can print it out from the DOL website. You can request and pay for the hearing online with a credit card or you can mail your request in with a check to the DOL. If you mail your request, we recommend sending the form by certified mail.

The hearing fee is $375 and is non refundable, even if you win the hearing. If you can not afford to pay this fee, you can apply for a DUI Indigent Waiver at the DOL website. Administrative hearings address highly technical DUI issues, so it is recommended that you hire a DUI lawyer to represent you.
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• DUI FAQ

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A physical control charge in Washington State has the same criminal and Department of Licensing consequences as a DUI. However, there are important differences in how a physical control DUI is defended.

An Important Defense

The Washington State legislature has created an important defense for physical control violations. The defense basically says that if your vehicle is parked safely off of the roadway before you are pulled over, you can not be convicted of physical control. The “Safely Off the Roadway” defense was created by the state legislature to encourage impaired drivers to stop driving.

However, the presence of this defense does not prohibit the prosecuting attorney from filing charges against you. In King County, Pierce County, and Thurston County, prosecutors commonly try to reject the “Safely Off the Roadway” defense for the following reasons:

• Engine was running
• Keys were in the ignition
• Headlights were on
• Driver was in the driver’s seat
• Vehicle was parked too close to the roadway

Is a Physical Control Violation Less Serious than a DUI?

Most people who are facing physical control charges are confused about why the penalties are the same as DUI. In 2008, a case (Washington State vs Nguyen) was taken to the Washington State Supreme Court and this issue was addressed. Although the court agreed that Physical Control was a “lesser offense” than DUI, they upheld that the penalties should be the same.

Avoiding a Conviction

There is a good chance that your attorney will argue that you were safely off of the roadway. In some cases, your lawyer should also argue that the police officer did not have probable cause to investigate you for a crime.

The stronger the arguments, the more likely it is that your case will result in a dismissal or significant reduction. If negotiations with the prosecutor are not agreeable and you exercise your right to a trial, it is the jury that will determine if you are not guilty or guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Unfortunately, any charges related to impairment in a vehicle are harshly litigated. Prosecutors in cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Puyallup, and Olympia, WA aggressively seek penalties that can result in jail time and a license suspension. It is a good idea to have a lawyer on your side who is on the cutting edge of DUI law AND knows how to pick apart the case against you.

Cristine Beckwith is a top rated DUI attorney who defends physical control accusations in King, Pierce, and Thurston County. She has office locations in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington.

WA SR 22 insurance is required if your driver’s license is suspended for a major moving violation and you wish to reinstate your driving privileges. This insurance document is required by the Washington State Department of Licensing to prove “financial responsibility.”

Major moving violations include:

• DUI/DWI

• Reckless Driving

• Vehicular Assault

• Driving with a Suspended License

• Hit and Run

After your license suspension is served, you must purchase SR-22 auto insurance before your driver’s license can be reinstated. Compared to standard auto liability insurance, this insurance is typically much more expensive as it is considered “high risk” coverage. Your current auto insurance company may offer this type of coverage.

SR-22 coverage is normally required for 36 consecutive months. If the policy is not renewed in a timely manner (at least 15 days before expiration), the insurance company is required to notify the WA State Department of Licensing, who in turn will suspend the driver’s license.

Unfortunately, you can’t avoid paying for SR22 insurance by waiting 36 months to reinstate your driver’s license. To avoid paying for SR-22 insurance, you can post a bond of $60,000 with a surety bond company licensed in Washington or deposit $60,000 with the WA State Treasure. However, neither of these options are practical for the majority of consumers.

High risk insurance is one of several consequences that can result from a DUI conviction. If you have been arrested for a DUI or another offense that could result in a license suspension, Beckwith DUI Law is available to discuss your defense options. We have offices in Seattle and Tacoma, and we defend clients in the courts of King County, Pierce County, and Thurston County.

If you are convicted of a 2nd DUI in WA State, you are required to serve at least 30 days in jail as the minimum sentence. You will also have to be supervised by electronic home monitoring for 60 days, which will likely cost you between $13 to $18 per day.

You can be sentenced to up to 364 days in jail for a second DUI conviction. However, it is pretty unlikely that you would serve the maximum jail sentence for a DUI conviction in Pierce County, King County, or Thurston County, Washington.

The minimum jail time requirement is increased to 45 days if your blood alcohol content (BAC) was .15 or above or if you refused the breath test at the police station. The maximum jail sentence is still 364 days, since a high breath test DUI or DUI refusal is normally not charged as a felony. Electronic home monitoring is required for 90 days.

It is extremely important to avoid a 2nd DUI conviction. Prosecutors in Washington State are much more aggressive in litigating a 2nd DUI, as opposed to a first DUI arrest. There is also growing political pressure (led by the governor Jay Inslee) to harshly punish repeat DUI offenders.

You should speak to an experienced DUI attorney who works in the jurisdiction that you were arrested in as soon as possible. The right defense can prevent you from going to jail. At Beckwith DUI Law, we have the experience needed to defend repeat offenders in King County, Pierce County, and Thurston County, WA.

There are many scientific and technical considerations involved with a DUI alcohol breath test in WA Sate. An important consideration is determining the accuracy of the breath test. The laboratory that performs the testing of the breath sample (through the Washington State Patrol) is required to provide a confidence interval.

A confidence interval gives your DUI defense attorney a margin of error for your breath test. Your actual alcohol content is supposed to be inside of this margin. Statistics come into play when determining the likelihood that your breath test is within a specific portion of this range/margin of error.

A WA DUI attorney must be experienced with reviewing breath alcohol test results. They must also understand the science behind the confidence interval results. If your DUI lawyer can successfully weaken the evidence that is being used against you, this can be advantageous in negotiations with the prosecutor. These findings can also provide enough reasonable doubt to win a DUI trial by jury.