Yesterday the Washington Supreme Court released a ruling in State of Washington v. Frederick Hardtke, that on its surface would appear to limit a court’s ability to require a defendant to wear a SCRAM device, or impose any expensive condition, as a condition of pretrial release.  Unfortunately, based on the way most courts in Washington… Read More

House Bill 1789, adopted in April of 2011, focused on issues ranging from ignition interlock laws, to DUI penalty increases to the creation of state and federally funded “DUI courts”. Starting on September 1, 2011, changes to the existing Washington Ignition Interlock laws take effect.  One of these changes will potentially reduce the amount of… Read More

As of July 22, 2011, police officers making DUI arrests in the State of Washington no longer have the option to leave to person’s vehicle parked where it is or to allow another person to drive the vehicle home. On that date, legislation enacted back in April of 2011 took effect, commanding that the vehicle… Read More