WHEN IS MY FIRST COURT DATE by Jon Scott Fox   June 2009

After a Washington State DUI arrest it is not unusual for the police to release the accused and in some cases, the accused is even given a ride home by the arresting officer. Frequently, except for the DOL hearing request form, no paperwork is given to the suspect and he is left wondering when he will have to appear in court. The answer to that question is not always easy to determine and it depends upon the jurisdiction of arrest, the police agency and procedures within the prosecutor's office.

The scheduling of the first DUI appearance is controlled by RCW 46.61.50571. If the driver was was not given a DUI citation or complaint at the conclusion of the arrest, then the mandatory first appearance in court must occur "in no event later than fourteen days after the next day on which court is in session following the issuance of the citation or the filing of the complaint…" In this situation, then the first court date is usually determined by the date a DUI charge is filed in court. As a practical matter, in some Washington State jurisdictions, a DUI charge might not be filed for a month or more after the arrest. In this situation, the court will mail a summons to the address that the court has on record. One way to check for a pending court date is to use the court's webpage. This page will not return every court date, however, because some municipalities don't share data with the Washington Courts website. Another alternative is to call the clerk of the court for the jurisdiction where the arrest occurred. A list of court contact numbers is found here.

In some cases, such as a Seattle DUI arrest that will be prosecuted in Seattle Municipal Court, the DUI officer will give the arrestee a DUI ticket or citation at the conclusion of the DUI processing. This process is addressed in the first part of RCW 46.61.50571 which states that the accused "shall be required to appear in person before a judicial officer within one judicial day after the arrest if the defendant is served with a citation or complaint at the time of the arrest." In a Seattle DUI arrest, or in any jurisdiction where the officer gives the suspect a citation for DUI at the conclusion of processing, it is critical to look closely at the citation for a court date. In many courts, the first appearance could be the very next day after the DUI arrest.

The best approach is to contact a qualified Washington State DUI defense attorney who has knowledge of the court and police procedures where the arrest occurred. Then you can be confident that you are properly advised regarding the first court date, and you will have an attorney to represent you at this critical time.