Hague gets 6 months probation for DUI

Sentenced to six months' probation for a driving-under-the-influence charge brought against her last summer, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jane Hague said she intends to become "the poster child" of efforts to reduce the pain and damage done by drunken driving.

"You haven't heard the last from me," she said. "I definitely feel as a public official I should be held to a higher standard."

Hague's case was continued for six months Thursday by King County District Court Judge Peter Nault in Redmond, after he was presented with an agreed order negotiated by the defense and prosecution in the case.

During the six-month period, Hague must make three public-service announcements, perform 75 hours of community service, drive with an ignition-interlock device, undergo an alcohol-and-drug evaluation, attend an alcohol-information school and DUI-victims panel, and have no criminal violations.

The expectation is that if she meets the conditions of the court continuance, the charge will be reduced to reckless driving.

That's a common outcome in DUI cases, with state records showing that fewer than half of more than 42,000 DUI citations filed in 2006 resulted in DUI convictions.

Hague said she was pleased with the legal outcome of the charge filed after she was stopped while driving on Highway 520 on her way back to Bellevue from Seattle.

"I'm very happy to have this concluded," she said. "It's been a tremendous learning experience. I'm really sorry this did occur."

Hague said she looks forward to working with law-enforcement agencies and nonprofit organizations to warn against the dangers of drunken driving.

"I've learned a tremendous amount of humility," Hague added. "This is an opportunity to use my public position to a greater good."

Special Prosecutor Lynn Moberly, who brought the charges to prevent possible conflicts of interest with the King County Prosecutor's Office, said the recommendation was arranged through extended negotiations.

Moberly said she had little choice but to agree to the probationary conditions because Hague had no previous criminal history and because Nault had earlier ruled that blood-alcohol readings taken at the time of the arrest couldn't be admitted as evidence during a trial.

Nault ruled in November that the results of a breath test administered to Hague to check her alcohol levels were not admissible because she was not properly warned of the implications of consenting to the test.

Hague was arrested June 2 by a King County deputy sheriff just west of Interstate 405 after he reported seeing her car being driven erratically on Highway 520. The deputy reported the 1999 Mercedes nearly hit a median barrier twice and then jerked back into its traffic lane each time.

Hague was arrested and charged on July 16 with DUI after an investigation, with the filing made under her married name of Jane Hague Springman.

That investigation was done by the Washington State Patrol, which took over the case from the sheriff. The patrol reported that Hague said she had attended a charity wine auction in Seattle the night of the arrest. She was later given the breath test at the Clyde Hill police station.

The case had gone through several continuances before the latest court session.

Under the new continuance, which Nault described as a "contract between you and the state," Hague will appear again before the court in about six months to face a sentence through the agreed disposition, with the DUI charge then to be reduced to reckless driving if she meets the conditions of the continuance.

If those terms are met, Moberly said she will recommend that Hague be sentenced to 365 days in jail, to be suspended; pay a $5,000 fine, with about $4,600 suspended, leaving a payment of about $900 for court costs and other penalties; and undergo a 30-day license suspension.

Hague's attorney, William Kirk, said the continuance was a "creative plea bargain" and represented an opportunity to take a negative situation and make it into something that could benefit both his client and the public.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com.