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Woman Registers a .47 on Breath Tester


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http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/...e/d8ojqk3g0.txt

 

Woman Registers a .47 on Breath Tester

 

REDMOND, Wash. — A woman arrested following two car crashes last week registered a .47 blood-alcohol content on a breath test — nearly six times the legal intoxication threshold and possibly a state record.

 

Deana F. Jarrett, 54, was taken to Evergreen Hospital as a precaution following her arrest April 11, the Washington State Patrol said Wednesday. No one was injured in the accidents.

 

Jarrett blew the .47 on a portable breath tester after she collided with two other vehicles in quick succession, the patrol said. A check of all 356,000 breath tests administered since 1998 in Washington turned up only 35 above .40 — and none of those was higher than .45.

 

The legal intoxication threshold in Washington is .08.

 

Jarrett did not appear to have a listed phone number, and it was not clear if she had obtained a lawyer

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The 1979 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records lists, "An unidentified middle-aged Latvian man was unconscious but stable after a blood test showed 7.22 parts per million (0.7%) of alcohol, police spokeswoman Ieva Zvidre said. 'An average person would vomit at around 1.2, lose consciousness at 3.0 and stop breathing at a level of about 4.0 parts per million.'"

 

They've since omitted alcohol-related entries (1991) to avoid possible litigation. But I seem to remember several years ago where a guy from Russia blew higher and was still conscious.

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the very fact that the meter registered such an extraordinary level of intoxication, shows two facts ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Either the machine used was improperly calibrated or grossly defective, or the police officer was incompetent and or negligent in the administration of the test, or possibly, and given the record of the >>>>police department almost PROBABLY, both. The fact that my client was arrested, let alone embarassed by the shoddy police work in this case is a travesty...let me say again...a TRAVESTY of the expectation that we have of justice in this GREAT country. Maybe we could all rise and sing the national anthem .... :thumbsup:

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the very fact that the meter registered such an extraordinary level of intoxication, shows two facts ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Either the machine used was improperly calibrated or grossly defective, or the police officer was incompetent and or negligent in the administration of the test, or possibly, and given the record of the >>>>police department almost PROBABLY, both. The fact that my client was arrested, let alone embarassed by the shoddy police work in this case is a travesty...let me say again...a TRAVESTY of the expectation that we have of justice in this GREAT country. Maybe we could all rise and sing the national anthem .... :thumbsup:

 

I was thinking the exact same thing.

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the very fact that the meter registered such an extraordinary level of intoxication, shows two facts ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Either the machine used was improperly calibrated or grossly defective, or the police officer was incompetent and or negligent in the administration of the test, or possibly, and given the record of the >>>>police department almost PROBABLY, both. The fact that my client was arrested, let alone embarassed by the shoddy police work in this case is a travesty...let me say again...a TRAVESTY of the expectation that we have of justice in this GREAT country. Maybe we could all rise and sing the national anthem .... :thumbsup:

 

And this boys and girls is why the DA doesn't prosecute DUIs in my county.

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HAve seen some .35's in my days......

 

These people were what I call professional drunks so they seem to have a tolerance.

 

I've seen as high as a .38, but that was with a urine test, which registers somewhat higher.

 

People who blow anything above a .25 shouldn't even be walking, but a LOT of it has to do with building up a tolerance for alcohol. What might put me in a coma would barely faze someone who's been drinking a fifth of JD's every day since 1982.

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Your honor, I know this defense is extraordinary, but I have expert testimony that anyone registering .47 BY DEFINITION would lack the capacity to formulate the mens rea needed to decide to drive a vehicle, or pretty much anything else. One can say she "decided" to get into the vehicle, but your honor at a .47 she was not capable of forming any rational decision whatsoever. Let's thank God that this poor woman didn't fall off a cliff or drown. Clearly there was foul play in getting her into this state, and the embarassment this poor woman has suffered is more than enough "punishment" for what clearly cannot be established as a criminal act, and for that reason, your honor, I am moving to dismiss all criminal charges. :thumbsup:

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Your honor, I know this defense is extraordinary, but I have expert testimony that anyone registering .47 BY DEFINITION would lack the capacity to formulate the mens rea needed to decide to drive a vehicle, or pretty much anything else. One can say she "decided" to get into the vehicle, but your honor at a .47 she was not capable of forming any rational decision whatsoever. Let's thank God that this poor woman didn't fall off a cliff or drown. Clearly there was foul play in getting her into this state, and the embarassment this poor woman has suffered is more than enough "punishment" for what clearly cannot be established as a criminal act, and for that reason, your honor, I am moving to dismiss all criminal charges. :thumbsup:

This is my favorite defense because it has a ring of truth to it.

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There is more to story

 

 

Ex-detective back in jail a week after her DUI arrest

 

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ

P-I REPORTER

 

A former Seattle police detective whose breath-alcohol content was measured at nearly six times the legal limit when police stopped her last week for drunken driving was arrested again Thursday on charges of being a "danger to public safety."

 

King County prosecutors obtained a warrant for Deana F. Jarrett, 54, who was pulled over twice last week for investigation of drunken driving, the second time registering a record .47 on a field breath-alcohol test, police say. The legal limit is .08.

Jarrett was booked again Thursday into the King County Jail, with bail set at $250,000, after State Patrol troopers served the warrant on her Woodinville home.

 

"She had the extremely high breath-alcohol, two incidents in two days, plus a reckless driving case in February and we wanted her back in custody," said Dan Donohoe, prosecutor's office spokesman.

 

Jarrett worked for the Seattle Police Department from 1979 to 1998, leaving shortly after a judge dismissed her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and defamation against the department. At the time, her name was Deana Karst.

 

According to her lawsuit, she suffered severe depression, humiliation and stress from her treatment at the hands of male officers in the department. Court records indicate she has struggled with alcoholism for the past several years. Her first drunken-driving conviction was in 2001.

 

Redmond police arrested Jarrett on April 10 this year. The next day, Jarrett allegedly struck two cars in Redmond. She drove away from the first collision and tried to drive away from the second, the State Patrol reported.

 

"She pulled back into traffic and attempted to leave but she rear-ended a Lexus and that vehicle stopped and wouldn't get out of the way," Merrill said.

 

The State Patrol said Jarrett collapsed and drifted in and out of consciousness. Several empty vodka bottles and beer cans were spotted in her car, according to police reports. A trooper took her to Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. There, she refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test, which could mean an automatic suspension of her license.

 

Merrill said the trooper waited 15 minutes before administering the field breath test to avoid skewing the results if she had recently swigged alcohol.

 

In 2003, King County sheriff's reports show that her 11-year-old daughter twice called 911 about her mother's intoxication. In one incident, sheriff's deputes found her unconscious. In another case, the daughter described how her mother pulled a gun from her purse and placed it in her lap while intoxicated, according to police reports.

 

In both cases, authorities placed the daughter into protective custody, court records say.

 

When a reporter contacted Jarrett at her home Thursday, she threatened to call police.

 

She filed two complaints of sexual harassment against male officers that were sustained by the Equal Opportunity Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the lawsuit. But many of her legal claims stemmed from early in her career and were dismissed because they were beyond a three-year statute of limitations.

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