What's the deal with Geno's DUI Charge?

[RiverDog]

It's going on 18 months since Geno was arrested for a possible DUI. My understanding is that they were waiting for the toxicology report before deciding whether or not to charge Geno with a DUI, but it's been going on 18 months since the incident. Did they decide to drop the charges as they have with so many other crimes committed recently? And why didn't the league step in and issue some discipline? Geno's reported behavior alone would seem to warrant at least a fine if not a one or two game suspension.

Anyone have any guesses as to what's up with it?

[NorthHawk]

By putting Geno Smith DUI into my search engine, I only get stories from 2022, so it seems that the issue is stalled at the moment.
Maybe there is some lawyering and negotiations going on behind the scenes to give him a just punishment but not a sentence that would impact his playing or practice time.
We can only hope his availability and play isn't hampered by this situation.

[RiverDog]

By putting Geno Smith DUI into my search engine, I only get stories from 2022, so it seems that the issue is stalled at the moment.
Maybe there is some lawyering and negotiations going on behind the scenes to give him a just punishment but not a sentence that would impact his playing or practice time.
We can only hope his availability and play isn't hampered by this situation.

Yeah, same here. I do know that they've been dismissing or reducing charges on a whole heck of a lot of charges, particularly non violent crimes. But if it got dismissed, it would go into the public record and some reporter would have picked up on it as it would be a big story.

Same goes for the league. Geno could be out of the game by the time they end up dealing out discipline. Very strange situation.

[NorthHawk]

Here’s a story about a Sahints player from PFT

Saints safety Marcus Maye is scheduled for some time in a courtroom this summer.

Maye faces DUI charges in Broward County, Florida and Katherine Terrell of ESPN reports that a jury trial has been set for July 25. Maye is charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, and DUI property damage in relation to an incident in Fort Lauderdale in February 2021.

So it seems things are slow in other places, too.

[RiverDog]

Here’s a story about a Sahints player from PFT

Saints safety Marcus Maye is scheduled for some time in a courtroom this summer.

Maye faces DUI charges in Broward County, Florida and Katherine Terrell of ESPN reports that a jury trial has been set for July 25. Maye is charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, and DUI property damage in relation to an incident in Fort Lauderdale in February 2021.

So it seems things are slow in other places, too.

Wow, over 2 years. What is it Richard Nixon once said? Justice delayed is justice denied.

The local paper here where I live did a report on a shortage of attorneys and public defenders:

Judge cuts bail for rape and stolen car suspects because Franklin (County) has too few attorneys

An accused rapist is one of the first to have his bail amount cut this week because of Franklin County’s acute shortage of public defense attorneys. In a second case, a man suspected of driving a stolen car was released from jail in a move to buy time for a defense attorney to be appointed. That defendant was in jail since March 27 and still hadn’t been assigned an attorney to represent him. In the case of the rape suspect, he remains in custody because of other charges.

Among her (the judges) choices were to dismiss all criminal charges and release them, reduce bail to give more time before they are required to face a trial or assign a private attorney to take the case. The cases were some of the first in which a Tri-Cities judge had to make those unusual choices in Franklin County Superior Court that were spurred by the current attorney shortage. The problem has grown so acute that county officials plan a news conference Friday, May 12, to talk about the issue facing the Tri-Cities. In Franklin County, just three attorneys are currently under contract with the county are qualified to handle felony cases.

“The reality is many smaller counties across our state will go bankrupt when private attorneys are assigned to backlog cases,” Franklin County Administrator Mike Gonzalez said in a recent Facebook post. “I’m not afraid to say, I believe that the state is partially to blame for this problem. Unfunded mandates are pushing the system to the brink of collapse,” he said. “I don’t believe the citizens of Franklin County should have to pay this bill.”

A suspect is constitutionally entitled to a trial within two months of arraignment on formal charges if the suspect is in jail and hasn’t agreed to a delay. Or a trial must begin within three months if the person is out of custody.

Read more at: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/loc ... rylink=cpy

This probably wouldn't apply in Geno's case as he wouldn't be entitled to a public defender due to his income and would have to hire a private attorney. But it does show how strained the system is.

[c_hawkbob]

No charges will be filed:

Bob Condotta @bcondotta
According to a King County spokesman no charges will be filed against Seahawks QB Geno Smith in connection with a DUI arrest in January 2022.
3:09 PM 8/3/23

[RiverDog]

No charges will be filed:

Bob Condotta @bcondotta
According to a King County spokesman no charges will be filed against Seahawks QB Geno Smith in connection with a DUI arrest in January 2022.
3:09 PM 8/3/23

Wow, just based on the reports, of which obviously could be erroneous, it's surprising that they're letting that one fly. I wonder why. Too many cases? Not enough prosecutors or public defenders? Pressure not to prosecute nonviolent crimes?

The question now is if the league will step in and administer any discipline.

[c_hawkbob]

No charges will be filed:

Bob Condotta @bcondotta
According to a King County spokesman no charges will be filed against Seahawks QB Geno Smith in connection with a DUI arrest in January 2022.
3:09 PM 8/3/23

Wow, just based on the reports, of which obviously could be erroneous, it's surprising that they're letting that one fly. I wonder why. Too many cases? Not enough prosecutors or public defenders? Pressure not to prosecute nonviolent crimes?

The question now is if the league will step in and administer any discipline.

I guess his BAC was less than half the legal limit. Which makes you wonder if maybe the cop that busted him in the first place maybe really did have little dick syndrome after all ...

[NorthHawk]

Good news. He can focus on football.

Edit:

From PFT

Brady Henderson of ESPN reports that the King County Prosecutor’s Office is declining to file charges against Smith. The delay in the decision occurred because of a backlog of blood tests with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

Smith’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was found to be .038, well below the legal limit of .08.

[RiverDog]

No charges will be filed:

Bob Condotta @bcondotta
According to a King County spokesman no charges will be filed against Seahawks QB Geno Smith in connection with a DUI arrest in January 2022.
3:09 PM 8/3/23

Wow, just based on the reports, of which obviously could be erroneous, it's surprising that they're letting that one fly. I wonder why. Too many cases? Not enough prosecutors or public defenders? Pressure not to prosecute nonviolent crimes?

The question now is if the league will step in and administer any discipline.

I guess his BAC was less than half the legal limit. Which makes you wonder if maybe the cop that busted him in the first place maybe really did have little dick syndrome after all ...

That would explain why they're not charging them with a DUI, but he refused to take both the breath test and the blood test, which has consequences. Plus, he was driving 94 mph on an urban freeway, 30+ mph over the posted speed limit. It seems like the least he'd be charged with is reckless driving and a license suspension for refusing to take the tests. It still doesn't add up.

As far as the cop's decision to arrest him, he refused the roadside breath test, which means they're gonna haul him in.

[NorthHawk]

IF he refused to get blood or breath alcohol tests, how could they get a reading of .038 and why was the backlog of blood tests an issue?

[RiverDog]

IF he refused to get blood or breath alcohol tests, how could they get a reading of .038 and why was the backlog of blood tests an issue?

They forcibly restrained Geno and took the sample against his will. As far as the backlog of tests goes, I'm not sure that it was an issue, that it might have been noted simply to explain why they were just now getting to a case that happened well over a year ago.

From this article, Geno won't even be charged with reckless driving:

The Seahawks quarterback will not be charged with DUI or reckless driving after getting arrested on suspicion of DUI in early 2022 in Washington, ESPN reports.

The blood tests revealed that Smith had a BAC of .038, below the legal limit of .08, and a THC concentration of 2.6, below the legal limit of 5.

“In considering the filing of charges, prosecutors must consider any reasonably foreseeable defense to be raised,” the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a release.

“From the investigation material, prosecutors do not have evidence to rebut likely explanations for his bad driving. While we can show that Mr. Smith consumed alcohol and marijuana and that in general those two substances have a compounding effect, we do not have any evidence to show exactly what effect they had on Mr. Smith, and a reasonable doubt exists as to whether his ability to drive was affected by alcohol or marijuana.”

That seems like one heck of a break as driving 30+ mph over the speed limit sure seems like reckless driving to me. But I'm pretty sure that the prosecutor is not going to give a sweetheart of a break in a high-profile case like this one, that they handled it as close to the norm as they could so they're not subject to criticism from either POV's, and if that's the case, I'm good with it.

It still doesn't preclude the league from taking some sort of disciplinary action. If they do, we should hear something relatively soon.

[NorthHawk]

They can forcibly take blood samples? I didn't know that.

[RiverDog]

They can forcibly take blood samples? I didn't know that.

Think about it: How could they ever get evidence of a drunken driver if they didn't have that authority? If you've been drinking and get pulled over, simply refuse the test and they have no evidence other than field sobriety and the arresting officer's visual observations, sobriety test, smelling of breath, etc., which is completely subjective and much easier to beat in court.

The trooper took Smith to a nearby hospital for the test where Smith began to resist having his blood drawn.

The report states Smith told Hullinger that “it would be ugly” for him if he had not been in handcuffs, and that Smith became increasingly upset multiple times, yelling at troopers and hospital security that they were not taking his blood. Hullinger said he, his partner and sergeant made numerous efforts to de-escalate, but they were unsuccessful.

Smith was laid down on a hospital bed and had restraints placed on his arms and legs, during which the report says “he did not fight.” Following the blood draw, Smith was handcuffed and taken to the King County correctional facility and booked for suspicion of DUI.

https://www.king5.com/article/sports/lo ... 051e0d0d95

The other thing to consider is that the human body burns alcohol at a rate of about .018 per hour and there was obviously a considerable lag time between when Smith was arrested and when the blood draw was taken, perhaps as much as a couple of hours, meaning that Smith's BAC when he was first pulled over could have been closer to the .08 limit, which pretty much exonerates the arresting officer of having "little dick syndrome".

[NorthHawk]

They don’t do that up here.
Refusing a breath sample is an automatic DUI.

[RiverDog]

They don’t do that up here.
Refusing a breath sample is an automatic DUI.

Yeah, and down here, it varies from state to state. The law in WA is called implied consent, that when you operate a motor vehicle on a public roadway, that you have automatically given your consent to a breath or blood sample if an officer has reasonable cause to suspect that you're driving under the influence. Here's the Washington state law that gave police authority to forcibly take Geno's blood sample:

(4) Nothing in subsection (1), (2), or (3) of this section precludes a law enforcement officer from obtaining a person's blood to test for alcohol, cannabis, or any drug, pursuant to a search warrant, a valid waiver of the warrant requirement, when exigent circumstances exist, or under any other authority of law. Any blood drawn for the purpose of determining the person's alcohol, cannabis levels, or any drug, is drawn pursuant to this section when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person is in physical control or driving a vehicle under the influence or in violation of RCW 46.61.503.

One way to look at it is that Geno is lucky that he got arrested in WA and not in BC.

Had Geno submitted to the breathalyzer he likely would have passed it, they would have released him, and could have avoided all this bullchit, might not have even made the news. This is all on Geno and his refusal/attitude, not the cops.

[NorthHawk]

For sure.
Do we know if the Officer was being a jerk thus creating that type of response?
Unless he thought he was much closer to the limit, it doesn't seem reasonable.

[RiverDog]

For sure.
Do we know if the Officer was being a jerk thus creating that type of response?
Unless he thought he was much closer to the limit, it doesn't seem reasonable.

No, we don't know if the arresting officer was being a jerk, only that he had a justifiable suspicion that Geno had been drinking and that under those circumstances, police protocol requires him to make an arrest.

The reports are that multiple people tried to de-escalate the situation on a number of occasions but were unsuccessful.

It's a little off topic, but there were two occasions back in the mid 70's, one when I wasn't even 21, when I had been drinking and got pulled over but released. One officer told me to go to a McDonald's and if I came out within an hour, he'd arrest me. Police used to have a lot of latitude when making an arrest. Sometimes they'd just tell the sober passenger to drive. But that latitude was subject to lots of abuse. I know of a city councilman's son, drunk on his ass, that got released, but if you were a black or Hispanic in the same situation, you got arrested.

But not anymore. When a cop determines that he/she has a DUI suspect, they immediately call for a backup, and if any of them feel that the suspect has been drinking, the suspect gets cuffed and taken to headquarters. If you see two or more cop cars at a traffic stop, you know that it's a DUI call and that the arresting officer needs witnesses. That I know from friends of mine that are LE officers.

Beginning in the early 80's, police departments started getting sued over suspects they had detained but released only to get involved in a fatal accident. The organization "MADD", Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was very successful at getting tough DUI legislation passed. The federal government used the threat of withdrawing highway funds if states didn't reduce their thresholds to .08 (.10 used to be the commonly accepted standards). Oregon even had a proposal to reduce their threshold to .04. There for a while, it was a game of one upmanship for politicians, who could be the toughest on drunk driving, to the point where they might as well have re-instated prohibition.

In any event, my take here is that this incident was 100% on Geno. I see no evidence whatsoever that the police did anything out of the ordinary.