Woods & Brangwin Law Firm, PLLC

1. Always be calm and cool.

2. You have the right to remain silent, and you should.

Initiative 502 is currently gathering signatures. At its simplest, I-502 seeks to legalize marijuana and replace it with regulated sales. While I-502 may not be perfect, it would be a wise start. Through November, registered voters can sign I-502 petitions at our offices. For more on I-502, visit their web site at: http://www.newapproachwa.org

Ignition interlocks don’t always make the roads safer. In fact, sometimes they kill.

There’s currently a bill pending in Olympia to make drivers convicted of DUI get a special license for their car.  If passed, House Bill 1955 would require every person convicted of DUI to get a license plate marked with a Z, and it would be a crime for the person to drive any other vehicle.

While it might sound enticing to brand drivers this way, it’s nothing more than the “A” for adultery from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel about Puritan Boston.  It would be a badge of shame for all to see.  But the truth is that such a law would do nothing to curb drunk driving.

JoAnn Chiakulas deserves a medal. Who is she? She was the holdout juror in the trial of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The jury voted 11-1 to convict. Chiakulas held her ground. She’s been widely criticized because she held out and would not convict. But she did what she was legally obligated to do. She did what the court instructed her to do. She did what many jurors don’t do. She deserves a medal.

Many jurors are too quick to just follow the prosecutor’s evidence and blindly believe whatever the cops testify to and the prosecutor tells them in closing argument.

For the past several years I have visited Thailand, specifically the resort and ex-patriot area of Chonburi, approximately 90 miles south-east of Bangkok.

On July 16, 2007, Ron[1] was driving a company truck south-bound on US-97 near Omak, WA. A driver going the opposite direction tried to pass a semi-truck in a no-passing zone. Ron tried to avoid a head-on collision but was unable to do so because of the guardrail along the highway. When the collision was over Ron and his passenger were alive, but injured. The on-coming driver was not so lucky; he died instantly.

Ron was taken by ambulance to a hospital where emergency surgery was performed to repair his badly broken wrist. He also had a number of abrasions and he was extremely sore most strongly in his left knee, back and shoulder. In all, Ron would have three surgeries to his wrist and countless medical appointments.

For about twenty (20) years Washington has used one breath test machine, commonly (although incorrectly) called a breathalyzer. That machine is the BAC DataMaster, manufactured by National Patent Analytical Systems, in Mansfield Ohio. It is the only evidentiary breath test instrument approved for use in the State of Washington. In approximately 2004, this State purchased several compact versions of the machine, but there were very few differences between the two.

In 220 police departments and jails throughout Washington, these machines sit ready to spit out a reading of a driver’s Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) to convict the driver of DUI.

The Washington State Bar Association publishes a magazine each month for its members.  It is called the Bar News.  By far the most read section of the Bar News is the “Disciplinary Notices”.  The Notices detail lawyer misdeeds and the punishment the lawyer received, from disbarment to admonition.  Do not worry, there are roughly 30,000 lawyers in Washington and only a small number are disciplined each year. 

One notice, in the October 2009 edition, caught my eye.  A lawyer from Grant County, Washington (a county where I frequently handle DUI cases) was suspended from practicing law for 60 days.