Legislature Considers Adding a Fourth Whatcom County Superior Court Judge

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Judge Job Description: Salary, Skills & More

Good news: local lawmakers are sponsoring a bill to bring another judge to Whatcom County Superior Court.

This good news is long overdue. As the article states, Whatcom  County hasn’t added a Superior Court judge since 1972. Skagit County, with 58 percent of Whatcom’s population, already has four judges. Backlogs in criminal and especially civil cases have been a problem for more than a decade.

My clients want their day in court. They want me to argue pretrial motions, suppress evidence and/or dismiss cases. Some clients remain in custody because they can’t afford the high bail amounts. Others want immediate jury trials. In all cases, judges are needed to make decisions.

Unfortunately, today’s backlog makes it very difficult to simply access a judge. I’m competing for time with other criminal attorneys, civil attorneys, judicial training, vacations, holidays, etc. Obtaining a fourth judge allows us to set more jury trial dates and clean out the backlog on civil cases.

Being an active trial attorney, I welcome more opportunities to advocate on behalf of clients facing DUI, assault, property crimes, drug crimes, etc. Again obtaining a fourth judge is a step in the right direction.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Increased DUI Patrols in Whatcom County

Bellingham, Blood Test, Department of Licensing, Drug Offenses, DUI, felony, Ignition Interlock Device, law enforcement, marijuana, misdemeanor, police, Search and Seizure, Search Warrant, Terry Stop, Uncategorized, Washington State Patrol, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,

WSP upping DUI emphasis patrols - YakTriNews.com

Be careful.  Extra troopers, deputies and police officers will be on patrol this weekend in Whatcom County and around the state in an effort to get impaired drivers off the roads.

About 1,000 law officers will be on duty in Washington the nights of Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, for the 21st annual “Night of 1,000 Stars.”  The name refers to the badges worn by officers who will be watching for traffic violations, especially drunken driving, aggressive driving, speeding, and failure to wear a seatbelt.  “Every single year that we go through this we arrest people who made a bad choice,” said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary. “We want people to take our message seriously.”

A State Patrol airplane will also patrol Northwest Washington both nights.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Latest DUI Emphasis Patrol Nets 151 Whatcom County Drivers

Bellingham, Bellingham Defense Attorney, Blood Test, Department of Licensing, Drug Offenses, DUI, Ignition Interlock Device, law enforcement, marijuana, misdemeanor, police, Terry Stop, Washington State Patrol, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,

Drive Hammered Get Nailed! - The Bee -The buzz in Bullhead City - Lake Havasu City - Kingman - Arizona - California - Nevada

The latest “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” campaign put more officers on patrol during the holiday season and resulted in 151 Whatcom County drivers being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

The campaign began Nov. 25 and ended Jan. 2. The Washington State Patrol, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and the Bellingham, Ferndale and Western Washington University police departments participated.

Statewide, more than 3,500 people were arrested for DUI during the campaign.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Representing Veterans

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Webinar: Representing Veterans in Criminal Cases: Obtaining and Understanding Military Records - July 15 at 1 PM - Florida Mental Health Law

Good news.  The Louisiana Public Defender Board, in collaboration with the Louisiana Department of veterans Affairs, has developed a guide for public defense attorneys who represent veterans.

The guide provides information on substance abuse services, PTSD treatment, VA recovery services in mental health, transitional work experience (TWE) and Supported Employment (SE) and Depression Treatment.

My opinion? The guide is a great tool that could fairly easily be replicated in every state in the country.  Although it’s written for public defenders, the guide also helps private defense attorneys identify the resources available to assist their veteran clients.

I’m honored to represent veterans against criminal charges.  In my experience, their crimes can be traced back to an underlying PTSD issue from serving in the war.  They deserve the highest level of legal representation, and should be treated with dignity from the judges and prosecutors.  Our veterans fought for our country.

Attorneys representing veterans MUST KNOW their veteran clients may lose pension benefits if they plead to any convictions garnering 60 or more days of incarceration.  For more information, please click “Section A: General Information on Payment of Benefits After Incarceration after clicking the link below:

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/va_search.jsp?SQ=&TT=1&QT=incarceration

To the veterans, I salute you. 🙂

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Bellingham’s New Noise Ordinance: A Step In the Right Direction

Bellingham, Bellingham Defense Attorney, law enforcement, Legislation, police, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,

Keep It Down! Lansdale Borough Has a New Noise Ordinance

On December 6, at 7:00 p.m., Bellingham City Council members will vote on the creation of entertainment districts designed to simultaneously protect musicians/venues from noise complaints and downtown residents from excessive noise.

Under the ordinance, the council would officially create entertainment districts downtown and in Fairhaven.  It also would make a basic declaration recognizing that music venues “add to the vibrancy and economic vitality” of the city.  Then it directs police, in considering noise complaints, to assess the issue using various criteria like (1) time of day the complaint occurs; (2) duration and volume of sound; (3) the nature of the sound; and (4) the character of the business or industry from where the sound originates.

Members of the Bellingham Downtown Alliance for Music and Nightlife said the law contains some “very promising elements” and that it was exciting the council would be making an official declaration about the importance of music and nightlife to the city.  The group also wants the city to require landlords to disclose to potential tenants in the entertainment districts that they’d be living in an area with higher volumes of noise at later hours.

My opinion?  I live downtown.  There are three  noisy nightclubs/bars in my neighborhood.  They attract a noisy crowd, especially on the weekends.  However, I moved into this area knowing the noise existed.  Indeed, I welcomed it (if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em; if you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen, yadda yadda . . .).

The police and the City have cowed to the complaints of local citizens and businesses who can’t handle urban noise.  Indeed, mere months ago, Plan B Lounge closed down due to the excessive complaints of one neighbor (1!) who lived above the lounge and stated he couldn’t sleep because of the noise.  The City found in his favor and determined that Plan B must install soundproofing, and/or decrease the music.  The owners chose to leave.  Another local business bit the dust.  What a loss!  Throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I’m in favor of the ordinance.  Police must now apply specific criteria in determining whether the noise ordinance is violated.  They can no longer make arbitrary and capricious decisions (it’s more difficult, anyway).  Good.  Let’s make standards and apply them fairly.  Otherwise, musicians and venues will continue face Disorderly Conduct charges for merely expressing themselves.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

It’s a Bad Time For Job Seekers With Criminal Records

Bellingham Defense Attorney, felony, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,

Are Ex-Prisoners the Answer to Employee Shortages in the Workforce? - SCPa Works

The L.A. Times reported on the employment challenges faced by people coming out of prison. “As difficult as the recession has been on people, it’s twice as difficult for people with a felony to make it in this economy.”

The information is sobering.  As prisons are forced to reduce their inmate populations because of overcrowding and budget shortages, some economists fear that could lead many of them back to a life of crime.  Also, experts say two trends have dimmed employment prospects even more.

One is a severe contraction in industries such as manufacturing and construction that have traditionally been more open to hiring people with checkered pasts. The other is a rise in the number of former inmates looking for work, as state prisons and county jails try to reduce their inmate populations to save money.

My opinion?  Clients hire me for many reasons: to defend their rights, fight unwarranted criminal charges, and/or reach resolutions which dismiss/reduce criminal charges, and save their career from present or future calamities caused by the criminal charges levelled against them.  Criminal history, and especially FELONY history, is extremely harmful to my clients’ present and future job prospects.

Keep this in mind when seeking private counsel.  Do you trust them to humanize you?  Will they save your job/career?  Discuss the different strategies your potential attorney will implement in working your case.  In today’s tough job market, your livelihood depends on it.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Bellingham Council Decides To Adopt Cameras Without a Public Hearing

Bellingham Defense Attorney, Red Light Cameras, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,
City Council members have decided they want to install red-light and speed-zone cameras, and they won’t hold a public hearing before voting on them. The decision reverses the council’s 6-0 vote on Sept. 27 to hold a hearing on the topic.

The council decided there was no point in going through the “charade” of a public hearing if it was set on approving it anyway, he said. The council’s No. 1 goal is public safety, and members have already heard from the police department, which wants the cameras.

A crash recently killed a little girl near a school, and the city has had other crashes in school zones, Knutson said. Red-light running has long been a problem here, he said.

“We have not heard a lot about this issue from our citizens,” he said. “We’ve been getting bombarded by Tim Eyman and his crew.”

Political personality Tim Eyman is an anti-tax activist who also fights agsint red-light cameras.  He blasted the city’s decision to skip a public hearing.

“That is so sleazy,” Eyman said. “And they wonder why people distrust government. My gosh. They wonder why our initiatives are so popular.  This is just socialistic. This is authoritarian, dictator-type of decision making that doesn’t even give the imaginary illusions of public input,” Eyman said. “You’ve got to admire the audacity of it, it’s just ‘Who cares what the citizens think?'”

My opinion?  I actually agree with Eyman.  True, there is no “on-point” legal precedent stating a public hearing is legally required for decisions like this.  However, when a city council has made up its mind, it will usually hold a hearing to at least give the impression it’s being open-minded.

There are deeper reasons for the lack of public hearing.  First, the recent death of the young girl who was struck by a car near Bellingham High School probably prompted a greater public outcry FOR traffic cameras than AGAINST cameras.  Second, the City sees these cameras generating revenue for City coffers.

Being a staunch supporter of due process, I nevertheless believe the City Council should have adopted a hearing on the subject.  Trust me, Government fails when it skips steps and avoids processes.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

 

Local Roundabouts Show No Spike in Crashes/Injuries, BUT . . .

Bellingham Defense Attorney, Drug Offenses, DUI, law enforcement, misdemeanor, police, Probable Cause, Search and Seizure, Terry Stop, Whatcom County Criminal Defense, , ,
Ring Around “Rosy” – The “Magic Circle” Debacle at Wilshire and Western | Paradise Leased
Early data from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) shows there hasn’t been a spike in crashes since the new roundabouts in Whatcom County were constructed.  Of the accidents that have occurred, none have resulted in injuries, unlike many of the crashes before when traffic signals controlled some of the intersections.

My opinion?  Yes, the data appears good.  However, I’m concerned that police use roundabouts to conduct unlawful/pretextual pullovers for DUI.  “Pretext” is the arrest of a person for a minor crime (as a traffic violation) for the real purpose of getting an opportunity to investigate (as through a search) the person’s possible involvement in a more serious crime for which there are no lawful grounds to make an arrest.  Pretextual stops are unlawful.

Navigating a roundabout is confusing for inexperienced drivers.  The four most common mistakes people make are (1) not yielding to traffic already in the roundabout, (2) not using their blinkers, (3) changing lanes in the roundabout, which is not allowed; and (4) treating the yield signs entering roundabouts as stop signs.

Any one of these common mistakes can cause a police officer to initiate an unlawful pretextual pullover.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Red Light Cameras: The Saga Continues

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Penalty for Toledo's traffic cameras stripped from state transportation budget | The Blade

A new study shows “license plate sprays” are ineffective.

Some “masking” products let us apply a cover or spray to license plates to neutralize the devices.  The spray or cover supposedly reflects the camera’s flash and overexposes the photo, rendering it useless.  However, a new study shows they don’t work and, in some cases, actually improve the image quality.

“The countermeasures had no effect on plate legibility under dark conditions,” quoted the study. “All rear plate images were clearly legible, with no significant difference between the test plate images and the control plate image. A citation could have been issued in all cases,” the study said.

Washington State law requires license plates to be attached conspicuously at the front and rear of each vehicle. However, the law also allows for an exemption if it is impossible to affix the plate. The Washington state patrol may grant exceptions to this subsection if the body construction of the vehicle makes compliance impossible.”

Oh well.  Back to the drawing board. Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with Reckless Driving , DUI or any other crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.

Debate Continues Over Putting New Jail Outside of Bellingham

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Australia's largest prison will be big business on the New South Wales north coast - ABC News

The debate continues over the location of the new jail.

The county has been working since 2003 to choose the site of a new jail as the current facility has become dilapidated and overcrowded.  The downtown jail was built to handle 147 inmates.  Now, due to double bunking, between 250 and 300 inmates are crammed inside. The new sites being considered are outside of city limits near Bellingham International Airport.

Voters in 2004 approved a sales tax increase to start saving up for a new facility.  Several years ago, costs were estimated to be between $55 million and $60 million.  Those estimates are now up to potentially $144.4 million if construction were to begin in 2015.
My opinion?  Do something.  We’ve waited too long.  Although I’d rather have a downtown jail for ease of access to incarcerated clients (I work downtown), any solution at this point is preferable.  The present jail is disgusting.  Dirty, smelly, old and dangerous in the face of an earthquake.
Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.