Deadliest Catch star jailed in Seattle following a DUI arrest

On February 19, 2010, in Criminal Law, DUI News, King County, Traffic Law, Washington State, by Scott W. Lawrence, Esq.

Deadliest Catch star Jake Harris,24, was arrested last night on suspicion of DUI, Hit & Run and Driving While License Suspended.  He is currently sitting in the King County jail in Seattle where he was booked Thursday night just before midnight.   

It’s been a bad year for Deadliest Catch’s Harris family.  Captain Phil Harris, 53, died of complications from a stroke earlier this month in an Alaskan hopital. 

People magazine spoke with the Washington State Patrol regarding the incident.

“Mr. Harris was spotted driving a BMW 3 Series erratically Thursday evening by a citizen in Shoreline, Wa. We were able to locate his vehicle by aircraft, and he was pulled over in the Seattle area. The car was registered to his father,” says Washington State Patrol spokesman Dan McDonald.

“He failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a toxicological test,” McDonald added. “After further investigation, it was found that he was involved in a hit and run with another occupied vehicle earlier in the evening. He had rear-ended another car.”

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Washington Trooper Shooting Suspect Caught

On February 15, 2010, in DUI News, News, Washington State, by Scott W. Lawrence, Esq.

A suspect in the Saturday morning shooting of Washington State Trooper Scott Johnson has been caught. 

Martin A. Jones, 45, of Seaview was arrested overnight Sunday in Long Beach and has been booked into Pacific County jail.  The State Patrol is still looking for evidence and tips from the public.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 

The State Patrol says Scott Johnson was working a drunk driving case in Long Beach when a man walked up, started an argument, and then shot him twice, including once in the head.

Dozens of officers spent Sunday going house-to-house all throughout the Long Beach peninsula. Investigators consider this an ambush, and believe Johnson was chosen at random.

Meanwhile, Trooper Johnson is recovering at a Portland, OR hospital and scheduled to be released today.  It is not known whether the bullet fragment lodged in the back of Trooper Johnson’s head will ever be able to be removed.

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Third Chicago officer accused of falsifying DUI reports

On November 13, 2009, in DUI News, by Scott W. Lawrence, Esq.

Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office is invetigating Chicago Officer Richard Fiorito for drumming up false DUI charges. 

A federal lawsuit was filed against Fiorito by 21 people that allege they were roughed up and called anti-gay slurs by the Chicago police officer.  As many as 20 more indivudals are expected to join the suit.

A video released Tuesday appears to show Fiorito bullying a DUI suspect during a June arrest.  There are a number of problems with the way the field sobriety test were conducted.  Despite the officer’s inability to conduct the tests correctly the driver seems to do fine.  Despite his performance he is arrested for DUI. 

A second video does not appear to support Fiorito’s allegations that the driver was swerving from lane to lane and narrowly missing parked cars. 

On Novmeber 12, 2009, NBC Chicago reported:

Fiorito has been honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for the 313 DUI arrests he made between Jan. 1, 2007 and June 6, 2008.

He said that if he’s called to testify in these cases, he will assert his 5th Amendment rights.

Fiorito is the third Chicago cop accused of trumping up DUI charges. Last year, prosecutors dropped more than 50 cases after accusing Chicago officer John Haleas of perjury. Earlier this year, dozens of DUI arrests by officer Joe Parker came under scrutiny.

I previously practiced in a jurisdiction where all police vehicles were equipped with cameras.  The videos above demonstrate why they should be mandatory in every jurisdiciton.  Not only do offer unbiased evidence, they can be used to deter (or at least catch) police misconduct. 

As the push to arrest more and more DUI driver’s continues, these type of incidents will become more prevelant.

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Go figure…a “Prior DUI” actually means an offense committed before the current DUI.

On October 29, 2009, in DUI Law, Snohomish County, Washington State, by Scott W. Lawrence, Esq.
Washington Supreme Court in Olympia

Washington Supreme Court in Olympia

Scott Winebrenner and Jesus Quezada were on deferred prosecutions in the City of Seattle for seperate DUI offenses.  Both committed and were sentenced on new DUI charges.  The Seattle Municipal Court judge revoked their deferred prosecutions and proceeded to sentencing. 

The Assistant City Attorney argued that the new DUIs should be considered “prior DUIs” for sentencing purposes on the old DUI, becaue the new charges occurred before the date of sentencing on the older charges.  As such, the City argued the defendant’s should be subject to the mandatory minimums for a 2nd DUI on the older charges.  However, if correct, this could potentially set up a situation were an individual is sentenced twice for a second offense. 

The issue for the Washington Supreme Court to decide was whether “prior offense” applies only to offenses that occurred before the current offense or whether “prior offense” includes all offenses the defendant has committed before sentencing. The Court ruled that the offense date is the relevant inquiry. A “prior” DUI is one that occurred prior to the date of the new offense.

To view entire opinion see: http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/812799.opn.pdf

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