OLYMPIA — Washington’s Supreme Court says arrested suspects do not have a right to total privacy in conversations with their lawyers.
In a unanimous opinion Thursday, the justices upheld the drunken driving conviction of Roman Federov, who was arrested after leading a state trooper on a 130-mph car chase on Interstate 5. After his arrest, he was brought to the Fife police station, which only has a one-room, windowless jail cell.
Federov asked to speak with a lawyer, but the trooper refused to leave Federov alone in the cell during the call because of safety concerns and because he needed to observe the man before administering a blood-alcohol test. Instead, the trooper moved to the far end of the cell. There was no evidence the trooper actually overheard the conversation.
The justices said police should give arrested suspects as much privacy as possible during such conversations, but that has to be balanced against safety and practical concerns case by case.
