Attorney Bremner reverses course, pleads guilty to DUI

Seattle attorney and TV legal analyst Anne Bremner has pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence.

The plea marked a sharp reversal of the high-profile attorney's earlier claim that she was not drunk early on June 4 when she was pulled over by a King County sheriff's deputy in Kenmore.

"I want to say that I made a mistake. I was wrong and I apologize," Bremner said Wednesday morning in King County District Court in Shoreline.

Bremner acknowledged that she was driving drunk when she was stopped. She also acknowledged that she refused a Breathalyzer test after she was taken into custody.

She apologized to the King County sheriff's deputies involved in her arrest and said her experience "on the other side of the police car, on the other side of jail bars" had humbled her and provided insight into the experiences of those she represents.

"I want to be treated like anybody else," Bremner said, promising never to drive drunk again.

Bremner's attorney Bill Bowman said the alcohol, combined with medication she takes for bipolar disorder, impaired Bremner's ability to drive. He did not indicate which medication she claims to have mixed with alcohol.

He also announced that Bremner would withdraw her pending appeal before the state Court of Appeals seeking to bar the Sheriff's Office from releasing the deputy's report and other documents to the media. The documents should be made available to news reporters by Friday, Bowman said.

District Court Judge Douglas L. Smith fined Bremner $5,000, with $3,875 of it suspended. Smith also ordered her to serve two days in jail and to attend an eight-hour alcohol-education class, as well as a two-hour victims' panel, where she'll hear from victims of impaired drivers. She was also sentenced to five years' probation and must have an interlock device installed in her car. Smith, citing an alcohol evaluation, concluded that Bremner does not have a significant problem with alcohol.

Bremner had told The Seattle Times in an interview that she had drinks with dinner on the night of June 3, but insisted that she was not drunk. Instead, she said she was the victim of a hit-and-run accident before her arrest and suffered a brain injury, resulting in behavior that mimicked the signs of alcohol impairment.

A declaration filed in the Superior Court case by Dr. Philip Lindsay, a 73-year-old Seattle psychiatrist, was the primary source of Bremner's head-injury defense. According to Lindsay's declaration, the doctor, who examined Bremner four days after her arrest, concluded that she "was mistakenly arrested for DUI based solely upon the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury."

Lindsay's declaration also included allegations that a deputy bruised Bremner's arms and failed to call medics to treat her.

But in court documents filed in King County Superior Court, the Sheriff's Office said Bremner didn't report being in an accident or request medical attention at the time of her arrest.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Bremner was pulled over because the deputy spotted her driving her black BMW convertible on a flattened tire. Once she was stopped, Bremner showed signs of impairment and was arrested. "This is a straightforward DUI from our standpoint," a sheriff's spokesman said in August.

The case made headlines after Bremner asked a Superior Court judge to bar release of the deputy's report on her arrest to news reporters to avoid negative publicity that could damage her reputation as a legal expert.

A judge last month ruled that a redacted copy of the report could be released, along with some video footage and other documents, but Bremner's attorney Tyler Firkins filed for a 14-day stay of the ruling so the decision could be appealed.

Firkins filed an emergency motion with the state Court of Appeals, which was set to hear oral arguments next week. That appeal is now being dropped.

Bremner is a high-profile defense attorney who has represented numerous police agencies, officers and deputies. She also has appeared on cable and national television programs to offer legal analysis. According to her website, she covered the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial in 2005 for CNN and has appeared on TruTV, "Good Morning America" and Fox News.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.