Attorney: Poulsbo deputy should have been arrested for DUI

Law enforcement in Kitsap County are under a public microscope after an off-duty sheriff’s deputy allegedly drove home drunk from a movie theater, but did not get arrested for a DUI by responding officers.

Poulsbo’s police chief Al Townsend said that Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jim Porter was treated the same way any other person would be treated by police. But KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson disagrees. So does Bellevue-based DUI attorney Diego Vargas.

“I’ve represented dozens and dozens of people in Sgt. Porter’s position who have been charged &#8212 normally, everyday citizens who have been charged,” Vargas said. “Technically, when he is in the theater parking lot, he’s in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, he is in physical control of the vehicle.”

Related: Poulsbo police chief responds to drunk-deputy criticism

Vargas said that Porter should have been considered in physical control of his vehicle by simply being behind the wheel, even though it was parked in a parking lot. He noted that Porter could have had a very good defense against that charge, however.

“I’d say about 75 percent of the time, a normal person in that situation would probably get arrested,” he said. “I’ve handled numerous cases where the jury has found them not guilty and safely off the road. But they were arrested and had to go through the process.”

However the interaction at the theater parking lot is only half of the story. About an hour-and-a-half after the first Poulsbo police officer left the theater area, Porter allegedly turned on his Jeep and drove it home about 2 miles away. A second Poulsbo police officer, one who knew Porter was a Kitsap County deputy, followed up on a second call from the theater, reporting that the Jeep was gone. That officer, Jennifer Corn, found Porter parked in his driveway, with vomit on his shirt.

Porter can be heard on Corn’s body camera saying that he is drunk and drove home from the theater.

“It’s a circumstantial case, but a very good circumstantial case,” Vargas said. “At that point he’s committed the crime of driving under the influence. He doesn’t have a defense. I’ve never seen a situation where a citizen would not be arrest and not be charged.”

Dori noted that he could see where the first officer may have chosen not to arrest Porter at the movie theater – if it really were a situation where Porter was going to sleep it off. But he doesn’t understand why Porter wasn’t arrested at his home after he admitted to driving drunk.

Vargas agrees. But he also notes that Officer Corn had known the deputy for quite a few years and was probably rather nervous in the situation. That echoes what Chief Al Townsend has previously said.

“She’s got years and years of contact with (Porter), she was a cadet at the sheriff’s office, she was a reserve deputy at the sheriff’s office. She had worked with him for a long time,” Townsend said. “She was very uncomfortable making any decisions.”

Townsend has also said that when Corn had encountered Porter, she was at his house outside the city limits of Poulsbo. She was therefore out of her jurisdiction and had no authority to arrest anyone. That’s why the case was handed off to the Kitsap Sheriff’s Office.

Vargas further said that if he were defending a person in Porter’s situation, he would try to get the video and audio tossed out of the case because it does not appear he is told he is being recorded.