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The attorney representing a Washington woman accused of drunken and reckless driving on Interstate 84 has filed a motion arguing that his client’s $30,000 bail is unconstitutional and should be reduced.

Jamie Inez Gregory, 48, of Port Orchard, was arrested Sunday, April 21 on the freeway near Durkee, about 22 miles southeast of Baker City.

According to an Oregon State Police report, Gregory was intoxicated while driving a U-Haul moving truck. A trooper wrote in a probable cause arrest affidavit that Gregory drove at speeds around 75 mph after the truck blew a front tire, and that she initially failed to stop when he turned on his patrol car’s flashing lights and siren.

Gregory is charged with attempting to elude a police officer, a Class C felony, and three Class A misdemeanors — DUII, reckless driving and resisting arrest.

Her attorney, William Thomson of Eagle Cap Defenders, filed a motion in Baker County Circuit Court on Tuesday, April 23. Thomson is seeking an order “reducing the bail security amount set in this case to an amount that the Defendant can afford.”

Judge Matt Shirtcliff set Gregory’s bail at $30,000. She could be released from the Baker County Jail by posting 10% of the bail, or $3,000.

Gregory is scheduled to enter a plea on May 6 at 8:15 a.m.

As of April 30, her bail remains at $30,000.

Thomson included with his motion a memorandum in which he notes that the Oregon Constitution includes a provision that “excessive bail shall not be required.”

Thomson also cited an 1987 Oregon Supreme Court ruling which stated, in part, that bail “is not to be set so as to make it impossible, as a practical matter, for a prisoner to secure release.”

Thomson also included with his motion a list of reasons why Gregory can’t afford the $3,000 bail.

Thomson wrote that Gregory’s home in Washington is “at risk of foreclosure” and that her mortgage payment is $2,200 per month. Gregory’s husband died four yeras ago, and her only income is from a tenant who lives in her home and pays $800 per month. Gregory receives food stamps and has monthly bills, not including the mortgage, of about $1,800, most of which pays “medical debt.”

Thomson wrote that Gregory, who is a plumber, was last employed in the fall of 2023.

Gregory has “few possessions that could be liquidated for cash for bail,” Thomson wrote. Her dog, which was impounded when she was arrested, is slated to be euthanized on Thursday, April 25.

Thomson wrote in the memo that he asked District Attorney Greg Baxter about the matter, and that Baxter said he would defer to the judge’s decision.

During Gregory’s arraignment on Monday, April 22, Baxter asked that the judge set bail — not specifying an amount — based in part on her arrest on a driving charge in Umatilla County late last week.