Azarkh wins DUI trial

Attorney Kat Azarkh won a trial for a client charged with DUI, which required her to persuade a jury not to believe the state’s main witness, a trooper with the Washington State Patrol.

She won the not-guilty verdict on December 11, 2025, in Clark County District Court.

The client was charged in 2024 with driving while under the influence, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.

The charge stemmed from a stop in February 2023, which was before all WSP troopers were equipped with body-worn cameras.

The trooper testified that he pulled over a vehicle for speeding and while walking up to the vehicle he saw a male driver and a female passenger switch seats. He said he had the male, who does not speak fluent English, step out of the vehicle and perform roadside sobriety tests. He said he did not initially use an interpreter because he felt as though the male understood him well enough.

He also said, under cross examination, that he told an investigator in a pre-trial defense interview that there was clearly a language barrier, and the client had asked for an interpreter.

The trooper also testified he was new and had recently heard about some of the crazy things that troopers see on the job, including people switching seats.

Azarkh argued that there was not enough evidence to convict her client. The trooper’s dash cam video did not show anything, the client should have been provided with an interpreter, and the state could not prove her client had been driving.

The state did not call the female who had been in the vehicle as a witness.

The jury deliberated approximately 30 minutes before unanimously voting to acquit.