Menu
Log in
Log in

News

<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   5   ...   Next >  Last >> 
  • Tuesday, June 10, 2025 11:36 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Target Zero - 100 Safe Days of Summer DUI Emphasis Patrol


    A big thanks to our impaired driving enforcers and crash prosecutors who came out to join all of our allied agency partners at the King County Target Zero 100-Safe Days of Summer DUI emphasis on Friday night (June 6th) – It was a huge success!

    Out of all the regional allied agencies which participated, we had 19-DUI arrests, a KCSO DRE Deputy caught 4 suspects, a Seattle PD officer caught 3 suspects, and we made about 30-40 contacts. Many lives were potentially saved Friday night – a great effort for traffic safety in the greater King County region.


    My gratitude to our attorneys who had time to ride-along – it means a lot to our agency partnership and fosters morale, comradery, and ownership in this unified criminal justice cause.

    - Brad & Michelle


  • Thursday, May 29, 2025 10:02 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    State v. Hall-Haught, No. 102405-3 (May 29, 2025) - We probably need to subpoena our bench toxicologists going forward


    WA Crash Prosecutors -

    *OPINION RELEASED - State v. Hall-Haught*

    Alright, folks - I've been lecturing nationally on the USSC's Smith decision for a long time and today we get our WA State analog:

    If you haven't seen my briefing, State v. Hall-Haught is an Island Co. case which, in Div-I of the COA, supported the common notion that a reviewing or supervising scientist can testify to our tox results on impaired driving cases. This was supported by State v. Lui and over a decade of confrontation jurisprudence.

    This case was elevated to our supreme court to review in light of Smith. Our supreme Court admitted that they would have to abrogate State v. Lui in order to support a Smith claim under these circumstances in WA.

    And that’s what they did:

    “To the extent that Lui allowed the supervisor’s expert opinion to rely on the nontestifying forensic analyst’s factual statements as the basis for their opinion, it is unconstitutional under Smith. To this extent, Smith has abrogated Lui.” 

    This will change the way we marshal our trial cases in WA when it comes to tox testimony (leaving some room for some possible procedural avenues forward). What's noteworthy here is that our court actually addressed the "testimonial" question avoided by most other state courts which have dealt with their own Smith cases.

    Download The Opinion Here

    Reach out with questions.

    - Cheers!

    Brad & Michelle


  • Thursday, May 15, 2025 10:17 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    Wenatchee v. Stearns, No. 102680-3 (May 15, 2025) - Division III reversed and we win!

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OPINION

    Alright folks - the long-awaited opinion is out and we have a return to normalcy!

    The opinion in Wenatchee v. Stearns is out!  And we won – As we already knew, 911 callers are presumed reliable in the informant-tip analysis.  This is a DUI case out of Div-III which caused potentially HUGE problems in that the panel essentially treated a 911 caller like a snitch and required that a responding officer make contact with that RP to corroborate observations and establish reliability (this would render many 911-based investigations tough to prove).  Luckily, that law doesn’t stand and we have a return to normalcy.

    See below for rundown on that case:

    - Cheers!

    Brad & Michelle






  • Monday, May 12, 2025 3:37 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    National Police Week

    This week we recognize and honor the courage and sacrifice of our law enforcement family that puts it on the line every day in service of our community. Specifically, this week we honor those who marked their end of watch in the ultimate sacrifice.

    We express our gratitude to those heroes who selflessly protect and serve. Those who fight to advance justice and community safety - lost but not forgotten


  • Monday, May 12, 2025 3:31 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    Announcing:

    2025 Traffic Safety Summit!

    Be part of the change!

    Let's work together to save lives!

     

    When: July 15-17, 2025

    Where: Spokane Convention Center

     

    CLICK HERE FOR EVENT INFORMATION

     

    Join your fellow traffic safety professionals in 3-days of traffic safety programming administered by dozens of industry experts across various educational tracks -> CLICK HERE FOR THE AGENDA

    Michelle and Brad will administer an update on emerging traffic safety issues through the lens of various case law updates!

    REGISTER HERE

    - Cheers!

    Brad & Michelle


  • Thursday, April 17, 2025 7:40 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    WA Crash Prosecutors - The COA-I case, State v. Wasuge, has been docketed for oral argument before the state supreme court.  This is a Physical Control affected-by case involving testimony of "burn off" with broader implications on Retrograde Extrapolation testimony as that testimony relates to generalities without a specific biographical nexus to qualities possessed by defendant.  It's been certified for the "burn off" issue as well as a possible issue regarding defendant's statements made during the initial investigative detention.

    This is one to watch because it will affect our practice.

    Oral Argument set for May 20, 2025 at 9AM to be viewed virtually here once they calendar the video feed Schedule - TVW

     


  • Monday, March 31, 2025 7:19 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Introducing Spokane Police Dept. Impaired Driving Coordinator, Mike Thomas!

    Officer Thomas works for the Spokane PD as our new Impaired Driving Coordinator in that region. This is a position with the grant funded support of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission with the mission to assist with community outreach and education on the topic of impaired driving. Officer Thomas is focused on reducing fatal and serious injury collisions though training and education.

    A part of this position allows him to attend the Spokane Municipal DUI Therapeutic and Accountability Court, where they help to monitor some of the highest risk and highest need DUI offenders in the community. Officer Thomas, a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Instructor, DRE Regional Coordinator, and member of the Washington State DRE Advisory Board, focuses much of his time on training officers in the region. He has been providing training for SFST’s, BAC, and A.R.I.D.E. training for officers. He provides valuable training on current drug trends for first responders, hospitals, treatment providers, probation, parole, and education professionals. This training helps to identify those struggling with substance use disorder and connects them with services with the understanding these people are potentially driving while impaired.

    If you need any assistance on anything impaired-driving enforcement, contact Officer Thomas at mthomas@spokanepolice.org 

  • Monday, March 31, 2025 6:54 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    We have tons of content in this issue for you from training opportunities to leg-updates, CHECK IT OUT!

    IN THIS EDITION:

    • That’s a Wrap! Prosecutor Bootcamp Success

    • TSRP Lethal Weapon Vhom/Vassault Prosecution!

    • Legislative Update & Case Law Updates to keep in your back pocket

    • Target Zero Emphasis Patrols – Looking for ride-alongs

    • Welcome to our new class of DRE Graduates

    • New State Ferry DUI Policy

    CLICK HERE FOR YOUR 2025 SPRING NEWSLETTER


     We hope you enjoy it!

    Cheers,

    Brad & Michelle


  • Thursday, January 02, 2025 2:13 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Introducing our new

    WA State Traffic Safety Judicial Outreach Liaison (JOL):

    Judge Adam Eisenberg (ret.)


    Adam Eisenberg is the new Washington State Judicial Outreach Liaison (JOL). A former judge on the Seattle Municipal Court, he currently serves as a judge pro tem for the Tulalip Tribal Court and for district and municipal courts in King and Snohomish counties. 

    Judge Eisenberg grew up on a small cattle ranch outside Boulder, Colorado. After earning a journalism degree from the University of Colorado, he worked for seven years as an Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist for newspapers and magazines in the United States, Japan, France and England. A career change led him to law school, and he earned his Juris Doctor from University of Washington. His career includes stints as a criminal prosecutor, a civil trial attorney, a court commissioner, an elected judge, and an adjunct law professor. 

    While on the Seattle Municipal Court bench, Judge Eisenberg was the judicial sponsor for the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP), a collaborative, community-based program that serves as an alternative to jail by providing individualized treatment to break the cycles of abuse and trauma. He was also co-director of the Seattle Youth Traffic Court, a restorative justice court in which high school students hand down sentences for teens who have gotten tickets in Seattle.

    Outside the courtroom, Judge Eisenberg teaches Museum Law and other courses at the University of Washington, practices the martial art of aikido, and is the author of the nonfiction book, A Different Shade of Blue: How Women Changed the Face of Police Work.

  • Thursday, January 02, 2025 1:51 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    State v. Leer, No. 86863-2-I (Dec. 30, 2024):  COA Division-1 Gives us a Binding Opinion on Expired Vials!


    WA Crash Prosecutors - COA Div-I agrees with us and follows the reasoning in Keller, the trial court must confine its foundational thresholds to admission to the four-corners of the statute (RCW 46.61.506(3) & WAC 448-14-020(3)). Analysis prior to the lapse of the vial's expiration date is NOT a requirement and subsequent analysis does not per se bar admission of the tox. Further - and this is another important part - the court noted that the state's 702 witness testified that the lapse of the expiration would not adulterate the sample based on the stability studies relied upon by our expert and discussed on the record, no Frye challenge was properly raised nor preserved. This goes a bit further than the holding in Kanta from Div-II and it's published! The panel also added some interesting dicta about the defendant's use of parol evidence, a declaration offered in an unrelated case but filed in this case (if you've ever litigated this issue, you're familiar with this declaration).

    Kudos to Mason County DPA Tim Higgs who successfully argued the case!

    Reach out to your TSRP for briefing and guidance.

    DOWNLOAD OPINION HERE & CITE AWAY

    Cheers!

    Brad & Michelle

<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   5   ...   Next >  Last >> 
© Traffic Safety Resource Program
Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software