When defending a motorist with a disability, counsel should consider whether or not the results of some or all of the field sobriety tests should be excluded for failure to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. [1] The ADA states in relevant part: No qualified individual ...

Starting January 1, 2009, a major change is taking place as it relates to the deprivation of drivers' licenses for those arrested and/or convicted of DUI.  Under the current version of RCW 46.20.391, any driver who is suspended or revoked, may apply for an Occupational Restricted License (ORL) af...

Cowan Kirk Gaston partner Bill Kirk has been invited to lecture at the Winter Session of the National College for DUI Defense in January on legal issues arising from the 4th and 5th Amendments to the United States Constitution.  It is the third time he has been asked to join the College's faculty...

Matt Knauss, the newest lawyer at Cowan, Kirk, Gaston recently received his certificate of training on the administration of roadside Standardized Field Sobriety Tests.  Matt's training was conducted in Nashville, Tennesee this past October, 2008, through LaPier & Associates, and consisted of...

1968 was the most important year of my legal career.  I graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and the people of the state of Washington passed Initiative 242, the implied consent law.  I immediately understood the significance of the first two events.  However, the import of the electio...

Focusing on one area of the law can potentially allow an attorney to become more proficient in that area than if their practice focused on multiple things.  However, focusing on one area of the law also has the potential to make one's practice stagnant and monotonous.  One of the things that attr...

The 2008 Legislative session has come and gone, and while there were several proposed pieces of legislation that came through (including road blocks, license plates and radical changes to the deferred prosecution statute) the only one which made it into law is the implementation of the Ignition I...

Here is a copy of the article originally printed in Seattle PI: State crime lab chief resigns after problems raised on DUI evidence Director, who leaves in March, says problems now fixed by TRACY JOHNSON P-I REPORTER The head of the state labs that test crime evidence is stepping down, a move...

A recent high profile DUI case defended by William Kirk was successful in utilizing an argument pioneered by Eric Gaston to omit a breath test.

Contact Us for a Free Consultation if You Have Been Cited for BUI – We can help. In recent years, not only has law enforcement significantly increased their efforts to remove impaired drivers from the roadways, their efforts have increasingly extended to the waterways. Consequently, those who ha...

The 2007 Seafair weekend has come and gone, and accelerating a trend which began in 2005, more boaters were arrested for operating their vessel under the influence of alcohol then ever before. According to both the Seattle Times and PI, over 130 boaters were arrested for BUI.  Of course most of t...

Dr. Barry Logan, head of the agency responsible for assuring the reliability of breath testing in this state, has acknowledged that the lab manager of the State Toxicology lab falsely signed an undetermined number of legal certificates since 2002 saying she had checked the solution used to confir...