The state Supreme Court has upheld a 2004 state law that made it tougher for breath-alcohol tests in drunken-driving cases to be thrown out of court. The 2004 statute made several changes to existing DUI law. The biggest change made it easier for the prosecution to get breath-test evidence admitted into court.
In his dissent, Justice Richard Sanders wrote, "Surrender of judicial independence is precisely what the majority does when it upholds a bill shackling the power of the courts to do that which the courts have traditionally done: determine the admissibility of evidence.”
The court agreed to review the law after several judges handed down conflicting rulings -- and some courts tossed out the entire law as unconstitutional.
Breath-alcohol law upheld. But defense, prosecution differ on what ruling means
This article originally published
Friday, October 6, 2006 by
RACHEL LA CORTE - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS at
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER .
OLYMPIA -- The state Supreme Court has upheld a 2004 state law that made it tougher for breath-alcohol tests in drunken-driving cases to be thrown out of court....
