By TIM HAECK
KIRO Radio

Well known Seattle attorney Anne Bremner is going to jail for a drunk driving conviction. But as part of her agreement with the prosecutor, she'll still get to drive.

Bremner pleaded guilty after first denying she was drunk when she was stopped by a King County Sheriff's deputy in Kenmore last June. Now, she's changed her mind. "I wanted to take responsibility for what happened, I was wrong, I made a mistake and I apologize," Bremner told KIRO Radio, in an exclusive interview.

The 52-year-old attorney will do jail time and get five years probation but she keeps her driver's license because she's agreed to use an interlock device on her ignition. She's required to blow into the device and the car will not start if she's intoxicated.

Longtime DUI attorney Doug Cowan says Bremner's sentence is normal for a first time offender. "That is the mandatory minimum sentence, the judge doesn't have any discretion but to impose at least what was imposed in Bremner's case. That's what is typically given whether it's after a trial or a person pleads guilty," says Cowan.

An astonishing number of drunk driving cases are filed each year. Cowan says "over the last several years, there's been anywhere from 35,000 to 42,000 DUI cases filed in a year in the state of Washington and close to 40 or 50 percent of those cases are in King County."

Cowan says Bremner's sentence is typical. She got a $5,000 fine, with all but $1,100 suspended. She's on five years probation. She'll attend an alcohol education class and listen to a panel of drunk driving victims. "To see the system from the other side, it's humbling for me, especially because I've spent my entire career representing police officers and members of the court system."

Bremner went to court to prevent release of the sheriff's deputy's arrest report. She tells me she didn't want the public to know that she's bipolar. "What it's taught me is even thought there's a stigma there, I'm the one that probably believed in the stigma because I didn't want it out there and now that it's out there, I feel I've done something important for me but also important for everybody else that has this," says Bremner.

Bremner says she'll drop her objection and allow the release of the details of her arrest.

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