In 2005, I was pulled over and charged with DUI in Washington where I live and I plead guilty of negligent driving second degree. I was wondering when will this be removed from my driving record, when the plea was entered or at the time of the incident?

Alicia

Kent, WA

The Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) states that violations are placed on your driving record at the time of the violation conviction.

According to the DOL site the most convictions, court findings stating a violation was committed are place on your driving record for a period of five years from the conviction or adjudication date. Alcohol related offense are kept on your Washington driver’s abstract for a period of fifteen years from the conviction date.

Departmental actions, such as revocations, suspension or disqualifications are kept on a WA State driver’s record for five years from the final release date. So if your drivers license was suspended during this process of pleading down the DUI to a negligent driving charge in Kent, WA then that will remain on your record for five years as well.

If you have other questions regarding the amount of time convictions/violations are kept on your driving history or want a copy of your driving record, you may contact the WA DOL directly.

Will my current auto insurance company find out I have had a DUI conviction here in Tacoma, Washington?

Margarita

Tacoma, WA

Auto insurance companies can sometimes miss DUI convictions so it’s possible that your current insurance company will not find out you have had a DUI conviction in Tacoma, Washington if they don’t check your motor vehicle report and if you are not required to file an SR22 insurance with them. Computer error and human error, as you know, happen all the time. If your current auto insurance company doesn’t find out about your DUI conviction, one way to keep your current policy is to buy minimum liability with another provider with an SR22 insurance.

That way, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) would be satisfied because you have made your filing and since you current auto insurance company has not found out about your DUI offense, you’re able to keep your current policy. This would be especially helpful when you have full coverage, higher liability limits, other family members/vehicles or coverage on a valuable vehicle, where the rates on a standard policy could be very high. This website can gladly provide a free online rate quote for you.

My father is a company driver and just two days ago, he was charged with DUI here in Washington. He wasn’t fired by the company he works for because he has been employed there for more than a decade and this is his first DUI charge. What would be the effects of his DUI arrest on his job as a driver?

Izzie

Shoreline, WA

A DUI arrest in Washington State sets in motion two ways that your father can suffer due to loss of his license. First is the administrative license suspension at the hands of the Department of Licensing and by court action if he is subsequently convicted of DUI.

Immediately after the DUI arrest, if he didn’t refuse the blood alcohol test, his driver’s license will be suspended for 90 days and he may be eligible to have a temporary restricted license but only after he has served 30 days of the suspension. Thus, since his job absolutely depends upon driving, a DUI arrest can make him unable to perform his job for a minimum of 30 days.

If he survives the 30 days of absolute suspension, he will then be eligible for a temporary restricted license which will permit him to drive to and from work for the remaining 60 days of the 90-day license suspension. His employer must sign the temporary restricted license application.

Since your father is driving a company car, as a condition of granting a temporary restricted license after a DUI arrest, the Washington State Department of Licensing requires proof that an ignition interlock device is installed in the vehicle that your father is driving. This device is a breath testing machine attached to the car’s ignition that he must blow into every time he starts the vehicle and also periodically while driving the vehicle. The car will not start if alcohol is present and the horn will honk and lights flash if alcohol is detected while driving.

I was charged with DUI here in Washington State and I want to know what will come my way with regard to my criminal prosecution. How does a court process a trial for DUI?

Brad

Vancouver, WA

Successfully navigating your way through a criminal prosecution for DUI in Washington State requires a clear understanding of the DUI court process. If you know what is coming your way, it would greatly reduce the amount of stress you feel when fighting a DUI charge.

Your Court first appearance is called the Arraignment. It is when you are formally told about the charges against you. You may already know what the charge is before you even enter the Courtroom in the case of DUI. But there could be additional charges that you were unaware of like infractions for bad driving or additional criminal charges the prosecution filed after your arrest for DUI.

The next step would be Pre-Trial Hearings that place at Court and in front of a Judge. The Judge wants to know what the status of the case is during a pre-trial, whether the prosecutor or defense want to enter a Guilty Plea, want to set a time for a Motion Hearing, or want to have a trial or they don’t know what they want and are simply asking for more time.

The next stage would be Motion Hearings. These are written legal arguments on why evidence in your case (sometimes the whole case) should be thrown out. There are potentially a lot of motions that could be filed in a criminal case. Your DUI lawyer would know which ones (if any) apply to your specific facts.

Your next court date will be for Trials which come in two flavor, Bench and Jury. A bench trial is a trial where the Judge decides everything. A Jury trial is a trial where six people (twelve in the case of a Felony) decide what the facts are and the Judge decides what the law is. The outcome of these trials would be either you win or lose. If you win your DUI case, you go home. If you lose, you will typically (though not always) end up with a little more jail time and a little more fines than if you had plead guilty.

It’s something for you and your DUI lawyer to decide if all of these are worth taking the risk rather than pleading guilty during the Arraignment of your DUI case.