King County takes nearly 3 months to file DUI charges, report says
SEATTLE -- The King County Prosecutor’s Office typically takes nearly three months to file DUI charges against a suspect, The Seattle Times said its analysis of court data between January 2009 and March 2013 shows.
The statewide norm is three days, the newspaper said Sunday.
The Times said Seattle city prosecutors usually file DUI charges within a day or two of arrest, and prosecutors in Pierce and Snohomish counties “often” take two or three weeks to bring charges.
King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg told the newspaper that his office tries to file charges quickly, but faces a large caseload and limited resources, especially after recent budget cuts.
The nearly three-month time period between arrest and filing of DUI charges has led to cases where a person arrested for drunken driving months ago is driving – and sometimes getting into new accidents – before charges were even filed in the first case.