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Jury clears former candidate of DUI

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Last updated 7:37 a.m. PT

In a moment of vindication for the former City Council candidate Wednesday, a Seattle jury found Venus Velazquez not guilty of a drunken-driving charge filed against her just before she lost at the polls.

Speaking after the verdict, Velazquez said she put her faith in the legal system when she was arrested in October 2007. That faith, she said, was well placed.

"I said from the beginning that I wasn't impaired," Velazquez said. "I'm pleased, obviously, that (the jurors) came to the right decision."

Velazquez was stopped for speeding the night of Oct. 17, 2007, while driving home from a Ballard campaign event. She was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and later charged with the misdemeanor.

During the two-day trial, jurors viewed a police video showing Velazquez undergoing a series of sobriety tests, then question officers when she was read her rights. Velazquez later refused to take a breath test that would have established whether her blood-alcohol level was above the .08 percent limit.

Velazquez's refusal garnered her a three-month license suspension and an ignition interlock, which prevents a car from starting or running if the driver has been drinking.

But the lack of blood-alcohol level evidence may have helped her chances with jurors, who declined to speak to reporters after delivering their verdict.

Velazquez attorney Bill Bowman said the test would have shown his client was not impaired.

Video of the arrest showed Velazquez alert, speaking to police in a clear, largely polite tone. Bowman played the video for jurors twice, claiming in his closing argument that it proved Velazquez wasn't intoxicated.

"I don't think these charges should ever have been brought," said Bowman, whose firm, Fox Bowman Duarte, regularly represents well-to-do DUI defendants, including former Seahawks quarterback Warren Moon.

"Had this been any other regular citizen, they wouldn't have been."

Politics added a subtle drama to the case. Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr recused himself from the case after it became known that he was supporting Velazquez's opponent, Councilman Bruce Harrell; Velazquez's attorneys continue to contend that Carr remained involved in the prosecution.

Arresting officer Eric Michl was also caught in the mix.

Testifying Wednesday, Michl said he was criticized by several active and retired officers for making the arrest. His union, the Seattle Police Officers' Guild, endorsed Velazquez.

"It was an uncomfortable feeling," said Michl, a 30-year department veteran assigned to the DUI emphasis squad. "I know I'd be scrutinized by other officers for my decision."

Had he not made the arrest, he said, his decision could have been portrayed in the media as a favor to Velazquez on behalf of the guild.

Bowman said he believes Michl did his best under difficult circumstances when offered "no good choice to make."

Taking the stand in her own defense Wednesday, Velazquez tearfully recounted the night of her arrest.

Until then, Velazquez appeared to be the strongest candidate in the field, winning the primary election 15 percentage points ahead of her rival, Harrell. In the end, Harrell garnered more than 60 percent of the vote.

Asked on the stand whether the DUI arrest denied her a seat on the council, Velazquez's answer was short and simple -- "absolutely."

P-I reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com.

Former UW football star charged in DUI case

 

It's Rogers' fifth drunken-driving arrest in state

By JON NAITO
P-I REPORTER

Reggie Rogers, a former All-America football player at the University of Washington, was charged Tuesday with a new drunken-driving offense-- two decades after killing three teenagers in a DUI crash in Michigan.

It was Rogers' fifth arrest for DUI in the state of Washington, court records show.

In addition to the drunken-driving count, Rogers, 44, of Federal Way, was charged in King County District Court in Burien with hit-and-run of an attended vehicle.

Charging documents said Rogers, who is listed at 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, was belligerent toward officers at times, and incoherent at others. He cursed at troopers, and repeatedly called one "Coach James," in reference to former UW coach Don James, the documents said.

Rogers is being held in the King County Jail, with bail set at $10,000, and will be arraigned Wednesday morning in King County District Court in Seattle, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

A former two-sport star at the UW, Rogers played basketball before turning to football, where he became an All-America defensive lineman as a senior. The Detroit Lions selected him with the seventh pick of the 1987 NFL draft.

In October 1988, Rogers was drunk when he ran a red light in Pontiac, Mich., and collided with another car, killing three teenagers. Rogers, who suffered a neck injury in the incident, was later convicted of negligent homicide and served a year in prison.

Rogers tried to revive his football career after his prison stint, but failed to gain traction, playing in just four games over two seasons in 1991 and 1992 with the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

According to charging documents filed Tuesday, State Patrol officers were alerted about noon last Wednesday to a hit-and-run collision on southbound Interstate 5 near Southcenter.

A trooper stopped Rogers' Chevrolet Suburban, which matched the description of the vehicle leaving the scene of the collision, on state Route 99 near South 184th Street.

In his report, the initial officer on scene said he "noticed the strong odor of intoxicants" coming from the vehicle and from Rogers. The trooper, who was joined by another officer, said Rogers was incoherent and could not walk without aid.

Rogers was turned over to two other troopers -- a cadet and his training officer -- who had arrived at the scene. In their reports, they noted the smell of alcohol coming from Rogers and noticed his eyes were bloodshot. The reports also said that Rogers needed help being moved into a patrol car and that he was slurring his words.

The troopers reported that Rogers was belligerent, then fell asleep as they took him to the Tukwila Police Department for a breath test. At the station, Rogers was "swaying and hitting the side of the building" and required assistance to get inside the building, the troopers said.

Rogers refused a breath test and mumbled and cursed at the officers, telling one he wanted to "give him a hug and kiss him" and told the officers: "I want to go to jail. Can I go to jail?" before falling asleep. Rogers also slept in a patrol car while being taken to jail, the troopers said.

Court records also show that Rogers was arrested for DUI in Washington on at least four previous occasions:

In 1986, before his senior season at the UW, Rogers was cited in Seattle, but the charge was later dismissed.

In 1993, Bellevue police arrested Rogers, but the charge was later dropped after he completed probation and a diversionary program.

In 1996, he was stopped by Seattle police in the Central District for driving erratically and was found to have open beer bottles in his car. He was later sentenced to 10 months in jail and fined $2,000.

In 2004, he was arrested for DUI and reckless driving, but was found guilty of only the reckless driving charge and fined $500.

P-I librarian Lytton Smith contributed to this report. P-I reporter Jon Naito can be reached at 206-448-8209 or jonnaito@seattlepi.com.

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Report: Washington too lax on drunk drivers

By SUSANNAH FRAME / KING 5 News

KING5

updated 7:15 p.m. PT, Sat., Nov. 29, 2008

SEATTLE – Washington State is too easy on drunk drivers, according to a new federal report.

On average, 44,000 people are arrested each year for drinking and driving. But the National Transportation Safety Board says the state could be doing a lot better.

For one, the NTSB points out that Washington is only one of 11 states that doesn’t allow sobriety checkpoints. Advocates say that needs to change.

"DUI checkpoints have been a proven product by reducing fatalities by about 24 percent in many instances,” said Chief John Batiste, Washington State Patrol.

The last time DUI checkpoints were used in the state it was 1983 during the holiday season. Seattle police stopped 2,400 drivers and arrested 22 of them -- less than one percent.

DUI attorney Francisco Duarte says emphasis patrols catch more drunk drivers than checkpoints.

His idea is to stop people who are drinking from getting into a car in the first place. He thinks the state should adopt a zero tolerance on drinking and driving.

"And the best way to do that is to simply say, ‘Look. No one is permitted to drive a car after drinking alcohol because if you do, you've committed a crime’ and I guarantee you that will reduce the great number of DUI incidents,” said Duarte.

The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving says random checks do work and Washington is behind by not using them.

"The point is to deter drunk drivers so people know law enforcement will be out there. They're going to be thinking, ‘Let's designate a driver or take another form of transportation instead of driving impaired,’” said MADD President Laura Dean-Mooney.

In January, Gov. Chris Gregoire pitched legislation to bring back checkpoints. It didn't pass, but some lawmakers are determined to keep trying.

The federal report rated Washington as one of the 25 states that have failed to adopt many DUI recommendations. It says the worst offenders are Maryland and Wyoming.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27960634/

Washington State DUI News

 

Last updated November 24, 2008 9:57 p.m. PT

State DUI policies criticized

Board says more should be done to stop drunken drivers

By LEVI PULKKINEN
P-I REPORTER

As Thanksgiving approaches, state law enforcement is preparing for a less-than-loved holiday tradition -- drunken driving. But, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, the state's laws aren't up to the challenge.

An NTSB review puts Washington among the 25 states that have not made changes to combat drunken driving that the federal safety board has recommended.

Acting board Chairman Mark Rosenker was expected to chastise the states during a meeting Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C.

Chief among the NTSB complaints against Washington is the state's reluctance to allow police to conduct sobriety checkpoints.

In states where such checkpoints are allowed, police stop all cars on a road to check to for drunken drivers.

Washington's checkpoint law was struck down as unconstitutional in the late 1980s, and the state does not use them.

"We do believe that checkpoints could be set up with safeguards that would absolutely make it legal and not impinge on people's freedom," said MJ Haught, spokeswoman for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, which supported a legislative push to allow sobriety checkpoints.

That effort failed earlier this year. But traffic-safety advocates are hopeful they can find support for future legislation, said Shelly Baldwin, manager of the traffic-safety commission's impaired-driving program.

In the absence of checkpoints, the state has paid for a series of emphasis patrols around the state. That allows law enforcement agencies to have additional patrols targeting drunken drivers, Baldwin said.

On Tuesday, the State Patrol, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and King County law enforcement agencies were expected to announce a holiday anti-drunken driving initiative, Tie One On For Safety.

The emphasis will include State Patrol aircraft equipped with cameras to spot drunken drivers, a State Patrol spokesperson said in a statement. Aircraft crews will direct patrol units to pull over drunken drivers.

The NTSB also faulted the state for allowing plea bargains for first-time DUI defendants, not impounding cars driven by all drunken-driving suspects and failing to create a statewide system of DUI courts aimed at repeat offenders.

Baldwin said four counties have introduced the specialized courts, which direct repeat offenders into monitored treatment for alcoholism.

Elsewhere in the country, the courts have succeeded in keeping offenders in treatment.

"If I had a personal mission in life, it would be to get every county in the state to have a DUI court," Baldwin said.

"I think it's the most effective way to deal with the chronic, repeat offender."

In recent years, the Legislature has strengthened several laws related to drunken driving.

Repeat offenders can now be charged with felony drunken driving, which carries a more substantial sentence.

Starting Jan. 1, DUI offenders will also face enhanced requirements for in-car breath-test devices, which prevent a car from starting or continuing to operate if the driver has been drinking.