In the professional world of criminal lawyers in Seattle, there are many different types of people ranging the scale from great attorney to shyster. And it is hard to know what you are getting when you sign up with a given attorney unless you ask some tough questions and really listen to the answers along with thinking about your experience up to that point and the experience of others. But I digress. First I want to talk a little bit about the great work of this DUI attorney.
The case was extremely straightforward from a factual standpoint (although the names and some of the facts have been changed to protect the innocent). There was a lady driving around in a 67 Mustang convertible trying to get onto one of the ferry boats in Seattle. This particular ferry at this particular time was extremely busy, and she allegedly cut in front of some people to lower her wait time. After cutting in, some of the other people in line protested and let the toll booth operator know about the activity. When the car approached, the toll booth operator made the lady go to the back of the line.
People were still complaining, and cutting in line at a ferry is a traffic infraction in Washington State, so the toll booth operator called the cop on duty and told him what had happened. Normally the cop does the drug and explosive checks with the drug dog, but he can do other cop things too. After hearing the story from the toll booth operator, he waited for the car to come back to the booth and went over to talk to the lady driving the car.
Before I go any further, I want to point out that the toll booth operator didn't actually see the car cut in line at any time. She only learned that from the people in line who reported it. And the cop didn't speak to any of those people. After hearing the report from the toll booth operator, she told the officer what she'd heard.
Once the car got to the booth and rolled down her window to pay the toll, the cop stepped up to ask her about cutting in line. When he got close to the window he could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from the car. Based on this, he switched his gears to a DUI investigation, eventually resulting in the arrest of the driver for Seattle DUI.
Thing is, the Constitution protects us from cops walking up and stopping us to investigate a crime unless they have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. What this means is that the officer must have some reasonable belief that a crime has been committed based on reliable and corroborated information. In this example, the information was deemed to be reliable since it came from folks who wouldn't normally have any reason to report a line cutter unless one actually existed. The problem, however, was with the corroboration.
Because the officer received the information from the toll booth operator, who didn't actually see any line cutting occur, the officer had no actual corroborated evidence that line cutting had in fact occurred (at that point all he had was hearsay from those in line). And, when he received the report he didn't ask to speak to the driver's that saw it, he just approached the vehicle when it stopped at the toll booth.
Because there was no corroboration, and the cop could not identify anyone specifically that had actually seen this lady cut in line, there was no corroboration to create a reasonable suspicion that a crime had occurred. Because there was no reasonable suspicion, there could be no stop. This means the stop was illegal and any information obtained from the stop is tainted and is inadmissible.
In the end the judge was forced to exclude all of the evidence and dismiss the Seattle DUI. And all because a criminal lawyer in Seattle took the time to read and think about the police report.
This story leads me to what I hope you do if you ever need a Seattle DUI attorney - take the time to find someone you can trust, not the one that is the cheapest. In this business, price doesn't mean everything, but if you take the lowest price just because it is the lowest, you are definitely getting what you paid for.
Instead, try asking around for a referral to someone that has used a criminal lawyer in the past. And, when you meet with someone you are considering, ask them how they plan to work your case, what they plan to do, and if they are going to actually work for you or just take the first plea offer that comes along. It can mean the difference in beating your case and losing your case.
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