Note:  This hearing and all previous hearings were held at the Benton County District Court with a judge and prosecutors from Yakima. A hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m., May 19, 2020, at the Benton County District Court.  However, on May 18, 2020 the Benton County District Court announced that future hearings would be held in the Yakima District Court. To date, no hearings have been scheduled in Yakima.

Robert Thompson’s DUI Case will tentatively go to court on July 6, 2020 at a location to be announced later. The Case is being handled by Yakima prosecutor Joseph Brusic and Yakima Judge Brian Sanderson because Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller recused his court from the case. In July it will be over a year since Washington State Trooper James Stairet stopped Thompson for speeding in Kennewick and ultimately charged him with a DUI.

Today both Thompson and Stairet testified as the court reviewed the film from Stairet’s patrol car taken June 29, 2019, the night of the stop. At one point the defense attorney Kevin L. Holt demanded that this observer erase a cellphone picture taken of a portion of the patrol car video. Judge Sanderson responded that the hearing was public and the patrol car recording was a public document.

Thompson’s attorney had filed a motion in January to declare the arrest illegal and the breathalyzer results and the case thrown out. However, at today’s hearing the defense and the state agreed to a time of arrest and to breathalyzer results being admissible. According to the prosecutor, Thompson’s requested blood test showed higher numbers than the breathalyzer results.

Other arguments from the defense included a motion to recuse the Yakima prosecutors for “retaliatory prosecution” due to past cases that Thompson as a defense attorney had tried in Yakima. The judge dismissed that motion pointing out that Yakima had nothing to do with bringing charges.

The defense plans to have a toxicologist testify about retrograde extrapolation –how the body processes alcohol. This and other issues will be discussed at a Status Conference tentatively scheduled for Thursday April 14 at a location to be announced.