A Washington State DUI charge (formerly called a DWI charge) carries serious, long-term consequences for the person convicted. There are mandatory jail sentences, the length of which depends upon how high your blow was, assuming the ‘drug’ was alcohol. For alcohol, a 0.15 or higher blow, or a refusal to blow are both considered “high blows,” carrying more jail time. Also affecting the jail time at stake are how many prior DUI’s you have been convicted of, if any, in the past 7 years (going back exactly years from your current DUI arrest date).
DUI/DWI can be based upon alcohol, marijuana or any other legal or illegal, prescribed or non-prescribed drug consumption — if it appreciably affects your driving, or in the case of alcohol or marijuana you are over the respective legal limit. The penalties (jail, fines, license suspension or revocation, etc.) all go up exponentially and quite dramatically with the existence of prior convictions in the so-called 7-year “washout window” prior to the current DUI Stop. There are also mandatory IID (ignition interlock device, aka ‘blow-and-go’) requirements, as well as increased car insurance premiums that last for years.
Note that if you ever had a Deferred Prosecution and completed it successfully during the past 7 years, avoiding conviction technically at that time via completing the Deferred Prosecution (a remedy which someone can get now only once per lifetime), then that prior Deferred prosecution now counts as a prior DUI conviction (i.e., a prior conviction equivalent) if you just got charged with a subsequent DUI. Did you know that? DUI’s are defined in RCW 46.61.502.
Washington State DUI’s are Serious Criminal Charges that should almost always be aggressively fought and defended against .
Over 25 years’ experience. Thousands of satisfied former clients. Don’t worry – get help now.
Call 425-367-1122 to discuss any of these issues as they may apply to your case. Let’s go over it together.
