Monthly Archives: February 2014

DUI Advice, DUI Risk, DUI Tips

How to schedule an alcohol and drug evaluation in Seattle for a DUI

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If you have been arrested for a DUI in Seattle or really anywhere in Washington State. Then probably the first thing you will want to do after you hire a DUI Lawyer is schedule your alcohol and drug evaluation. Here is how I recommend you go about doing that.

First speak with your DUI lawyer. Most DUI Attorneys including myself have a specific alcohol and drug evaluator we exclusively deal with. If your DUI Lawyer doesn’t have a specific evaluator then you probably hired the wrong person. But if they defend enough DUI cases and has the appropriate amount of experience in this area of law they will be able to point you in the right direction. For example the treatment agency I work with for my alcohol and drug evaluations are honest and I know they are not going to screw over my clients. Additionally I speak personally with the evaluator and we often times come up with a plan that makes sense for my client.

Secondly you probably want to find a place that only does the alcohol and drug evaluation not the treatment portion as well. Why? Well in my years of experience as a DUI Lawyer in Seattle many of the treatment places take advantage of individuals looking for an evaluation especially if they also do the treatment portion of the program. If you think about it this area is ripe to be taken advantage of financially. Let’s say you get a DUI. You decide to go to an alcohol and treatment agency for the DUI evaluation. The counselor says you have a problem and by they way you’re going to have to do 1 year worth of treatment and that will cost you $2500. And by the way you can do it here. I have seen this happen many times in my career and that is why I only work with specific places that do not do the treatment portion.

Lastly you will want to consider doing the evaluation in the County where your DUI case is, sometimes even the City. For example let’s say you get a DUI in King County or Seattle. The treatment agency I recommend does most of their evaluations in King County and specifically Seattle. So pretty much every Judge has heard of this place, they respect their work and will not question it. Why is this important? I have been in Court before and seen other defendants (not my clients) hand forward an evaluation for their DUI and the Judge has never heard of the place and they don’t accept it. Now not only is the defendant going to have to find a new place but they are out of the money they spent on the evaluation that got turned down. And they run the risk of going to a different treatment agency that makes a different finding in terms of treatment and they are stuck with it.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI Lawyer in Seattle. He has been named a Super Lawyer Rising Star by the Seattle Met Magazine the area of DUI Defense, only 2.5% of all Lawyers in Washington State receive this honor. Additionally he is rated as a 10/10 and listed as a Superb DUI Lawyer by Avvo.com a national lawyer rating service.

DUI Advice, DUI Risk, DUI Tips

What not to say to a DUI officer if being investigated for DUI

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In case you’re not familiar with this blog and reading it for the first time. I’m a DUI lawyer in Seattle, WA. I have been doing this area of law for almost 10 years and I have met and become friends with many Police Officers that investigate DUI cases here in the Seattle area. One of these Police Officers that I consider my friend recently discussed some funny statements that people make when being investigated for a DUI in Seattle. It got me thinking, what are some of the worst things to say to a Cop of you’re being investigated for a DUI so here you go in no particular order.

First don’t tell the Police Officer you know “so and so” who is a fellow Police Officer. Surprisingly people think that it is a good idea to bring up a friend who happens to be a Cop or a friend of a friend or family member. This is not a good idea. If you’re being investigated for a DUI in Seattle and you tell the DUI Officer that you know another Seattle Police Officer that is not going to help you and it’s only going to make it look like you’re trying to get out of the arrest. Trust me this will not help you when the Prosecutor is reading the police report.

Secondly don’t say or do anything rude. Yes it sucks to be investigated for a DUI, and yes it is horrible if you get arrested for a DUI. But do yourself and your DUI lawyer a favor and please be polite. If you can’t do that then please be quiet. The more rude you are all you’re doing is pissing off the DUI officer. They are not going to let you go, and most likely you will get booked into the King County Jail for DUI and spend the night there.

Thirdly please don’t say you’re almost home. I can’t tell you how many police reports I read where the first thing a driver says to the DUI officer is “I’m almost home can’t you just let me go.” First of all this statement is going to be used against you in the DUI criminal trial. Secondly the Cop is not going to let you go and will only take this as an admission that you know you shouldn’t be driving.

Lastly don’t tell the DUI officer that you’re going to hire a DUI lawyer and beat the case. It doesn’t sound good. And guess what. Let’s say you get arrested for a DUI in Seattle. You hire a DUI lawyer. That DUI lawyer is trying to negotiate with the Prosecutor for a reduction in charges. The Prosecutor contacts the Police Officer to get their opinion on a possible plea deal. You think the Police Officer is going to go along with any reduction if they remember that statement you made about taking them to court and beating the charge.

Look the best piece of advice I can give is just be polite and ask to speak with a DUI lawyer before you answer any questions or do any tests. It’s that simple. Nobody has ever talked their way out of a DUI arrest before and you will not be the first. And I have news for you. Regardless of what you think you know if there is an odor of alcohol on your breath or person you will get arrested for a DUI. I don’t care what the Cop says. You will get arrested. So do yourself and your DUI lawyer a favor and clam up.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI Lawyer in Bellevue, Washington. He is rated as a 10/10 by Avvo.com and listed as a Superb DUI Lawyer in Seattle. He is has been repeatedly named a Rising Star in the area of DUI Defense by Super Lawyers Magazine, an honor only a fraction of other DUI lawyers get.

Bellevue DUI Laws, DUI Advice, DUI Risk, DUI Tips, Seattle DUI Laws

So you subpoena the arresting officer to a DOL hrg and they show up, now what?

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The other day I was talking with a Seattle Police Officer about a recent DOL administrative hearing he did for a DUI arrest in Seattle that he made. He told me that he was served a subpoena to appear to the telephone hearing. So when the DOL called him he answered and appeared for the hearing. But when he was connected to the DUI Attorney, the Attorney didn’t ask a single question and instead told the DOL he didn’t have any questions for the Seattle Police Officer. Here is why that DUI Attorney was an idiot and completely wasted their clients time and money.

It’s no secret that if you get arrested for a DUI in Washington State then you’re most likely facing an administrative license suspension from the DOL. Unfortunately the odds are against a driver if they find themselves in one of these hearings. Statewide the average dismissal rate is around 25%. Here at Leyba Defense PLLC we have a dismissal rate closer to 38% due to how we approach these hearings. But I digress.

Because the DOL hearings following a DUI arrest are so dang hard to win often times a DUI Attorney will employ the hail mary if they have no other options. And that is to serve a subpoena on the arresting officer and hope they don’t appear. It’s a last line of defense and is often a strategy I hope for myself to be honest with you. But I have news for you. Most of the time these DUI police officers will appear. After all they get paid time and a half to do so. If you were a police officer wouldn’t you appear. I mean all they have to do is answer the telephone in their bed and answer some questions about their DUI arrest. It really is not that difficult for them.

So let’s say that you have a crappy DUI case. There are no legal issues. Everything appears to have been done properly by the DUI police officer during the DUI arrest. So you decide to subpoena the DUI officer to appear and pray that they don’t show up. But then the DUI police officer does, what do you do?

As a practicing DUI Lawyer in Seattle I will tell you what you don’t do. You don’t tell the DOL you excuse the DUI police officer and have no questions for them. That is a complete waste of time, and honestly is borderline malpractice. Although it doesn’t surprise me that DUI Lawyers do this. I mean after all this is a business where a lot of so called “DUI Lawyers” aren’t interested in fighting for their clients, but only collecting a pay check by doing as little work as possible. It doesn’t get any easier than not asking a single question at a DOL hearing and then telling the client there was nothing you could do since the DUI police officer appeared.

So what do you do if the DUI police officer shows up? You ask them questions. A DOL hearing is a free deposition of the police officer without the Prosecutor present. You can ask anything you want. You can find out what observations the officer made. How they administered the field sobriety tests. Whether they followed the proper protocol during the breath test. Ask away, and guess what it is all recorded. If the DUI police officer says something that is inconsistent with their police report, or you catch them in a lie it is all recorded and it can be used in the criminal trial.

I can’t tell you how many times I had a crappy DOL case. But I served a subpoena on the arresting officer. They showed up and I proceeded to find something out that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I then used that in the criminal trial to either get the DUI dismissed or reduced. It happens quite often and the so called DUI Lawyers that just hang up when the Cop appears never get that benefit.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI lawyer in the Seattle Bellevue area of Western WA. He has been repeatedly named a Rising Star in the field of DUI Defense by the Seattle Met Magazine, an honor less than 2.5% of all Attorneys receive. Additionally he is rated as a 10/10 Superb DUI lawyer by Avvo.com

DUI Advice, DUI Risk, DUI Tips

How to get rid of that pesky ignition interlock device following your Seattle DUI arraignment

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Lately I have been seeing more and more people required to have an ignition interlock device following their DUI arraignment on a first offense DUI. Previously only the Judges in Seattle Municipal Court were imposing this ignition interlock device requirement following a DUI arrest. But more and more Judges around King County are following suit. I believe this is a complete misinterpretation of the law, and is quite frankly unconstitutional. However if you do find yourself in this boat of having an IID on a first offense DUI, don’t fret there may be a way to get rid of it.

Whenever I have a client facing this dreadful situation the first thing I have them do is get an alcohol and drug evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is for a state certified chemical dependency counselor to find that you do not suffer alcohol abuse or dependence and because of that you’re not likely to drink and drive. Typically the recommended treatment on a DUI case for this type of evaluation is a one day class called an alcohol drug information school and victim impact panel class.

Once the results of the evaluation come in for the DUI arrest, I make my clients take both of those classes. I then file a motion in the court asking the Judge to reconsider the ignition interlock device that was imposed. For example lets say you have a DUI in Seattle Municipal Court. This is a place where the bulk of my practice is and it can be a little tricky if you’re not familiar with it. First you need to file what is called an add on motion. This is a motion where you request the case to be heard on a certain date. Secondly you then filed the motion to strike the ignition interlock device once that date is received.

The next thing is do is get the records for my clients ignition interlock device. It will say whether there have been any positive tests for alcohol and when they were. Ideally there are no positive tests and that also can be submitted to the DUI Judge in an effort to show the client has not consumed a drop of alcohol and then decided to drive.

Now once you’re in front of the Judge you need to make a pitch that the IID is unreasonable and a simple abstain condition will do the trick of keeping your client from drinking and driving. Obviously there is more to it than that but that is the gist of the argument. If you find yourself in this position and an IID was imposed at your arraignment feel free to contact my office and I can help you get it removed.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a Bellevue Seattle DUI Attorney in Western, WA. He has been named a Rising Star by the Seattle Met Magazine in the field of DUI Defense, an honor less than 2.5% of all Attorneys receive. Additionally he is rated as a 10/10 and listed as a Superb Seattle DUI lawyer by Avvo.com

DUI Advice, DUI Risk, DUI Tips

Another below legal limit DUI convicted in Redmond

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Last summer I wrote about a DUI case (not mine) in Redmond King County District Court where the defendant was convicted of a DUI with a 0.04 alcohol level. The legal limit in Washington State is 0.08. Well another defendant was convicted of having a below legal limit DUI in Redmond. This time it was a 2 nanogram THC level. The legal limit in Washington State now that marijuana is legalized is 5 nanograms.

If you’re not familiar with the DUI laws here in Washington State you may wonder how is this even possible. How can someone who is significantly below the legal limit first of all be charged with a DUI and secondly be convicted of it. Well welcome to the post-2012 world we live in when it comes to DUI cases in King County. In my opinion as a DUI lawyer practicing in Seattle, WA there were three things that changed in 2012-2013 that answers my questions above.

First a major shift occurred in King County when it came to negotiating DUI cases. If you practice DUI defense at all in King County then you know what Im talking about. Long story short if you get charged with a DUI in King County the chances of getting the charge reduced is significantly more difficult than pre-2012.

Secondly in early 2013 there were several high provide vehicular homicide cases where the defendants were repeat DUI offenders in Seattle. The caused a major uproar in our State Government. Both the Governor and the State Legislature used these horrific tragedies as a spring board to drastically change and toughen our DUI laws in Washington.

Lastly because of the negative media those vehicular homicide cases caused, several State legislators used that as a rallying cry against all DUI cases. Regardless if it was a first offense below the legal limit DUI or a repeat offender who caused an accident they were all the same. And many people in the general public have started to become swayed by this uproar and guess what those are the people who fill the jury pools deciding DUI cases.

So when you take all that into consideration. The change in negotiating policy, the negative backlash that all DUIs have been getting, and the brain washed general public who think any DUI is illegal even one that is significantly less than the legal limit. It is a recipe for disaster and that is in my opinion as a DUI lawyer how someone can get convicted of DUI with a blood alcohol level or marijuana level below the legal limit.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI lawyer in Seattle, WA. He has repeatedly been named a Rising Star in the area of DUI Defense by both his peers and the Seattle Met Magazine, an honor less than 2.5% of all Lawyers receive. Additionally he is rated a 10/10 and listed as a Superb Seattle DUI lawyer by Avvo.com