Driving While High

There was no court today as it was Veteran's Day. As such, it allowed me to get through a bunch of crap that was sitting on my desk. Of course, there still is more crap, and going through some of the crap just led to the creation of more crap, but overall I have to say that a fair amount of progress was made.

An eighteen year old came in with his parents to discuss his DWI. It was actually a very rare situation. There was no alcohol involved. The impairment is based on marijuana. Someday soon I expect that a test to measure present levels of marijuana will be made available to law enforcement. When that happens, business is going to pick up for me considerably. As it is now, the only test that law enforcement uses is for alcohol. If you are using any other drug, you would have to practically be passed out or have a needle sticking out of your arm while talking to the officer to be arrested for driving while impaired.

I have had one and only one case where I actually entered a guilty plea for a DWI where no alcohol was involved. My client drove through a number of front yards, knocked over some mailboxes, and ultimately was stopped by a pole supporting a basketball hoop. When the police arrived, my client was still in the car. He was foaming at the mouth and some needles and heroin were found on the passenger's seat. Other than that, a case is being tried if there is no alcohol involved. It is simply a difficult task for the prosecutor to prove that a person is impaired from a substance other than alcohol.

In this case, my client admitted to smoking some marijuana an hour or so earlier. Marijuana and a couple of pipes were found in the center console. My client said that he was asked to touch his nose, and to follow the officer's finger as he moved it in a horizontal line. Of course, I have yet to talk to the officer. I would not be surprised to learn that several other tests were given. I would not be surprised to learn my client made a statement like, "I am too high to drive." I just never know what happened based on hearing only my client's version of events. He does have court tomorrow, so I should be able to find out from the officer what really happened.