You are the Jury

A guy has a fight with his wife and leaves so things don't get uglier. He hits a bar and has some drinks. He worked all day so he's tired, and he leaves.

He drives down a lonely country road on a cold night, parks his truck off the road (on the shoulder) and finishes off two Coronas and two Clamato/beer mixed drinks in his cab and goes to sleep in his truck with the engine running so he won't freeze during the night.

About two hours into his sleep he is awoken by a couple deputies and fails the drunk test.

Is he guilty of Driving While Intoxicated or not?

You make the call.....

Not to be persnickity at ya, AFNurse, but I want YOUR opinion, not what may or not be charged by any judicial system. I'll give the actual verdict reached here in court yesterday after we get more votes.

:cheers: (but NOT when yer driving)

sometimes the officer needs to look at the big picture and ONCE in awhile actually belive that a civilian is telling the truth, I think that he was off the road and asleep should override if he was stopped and sitting in the seat. did he lay as if he passed out or like he was bundeled up, was he combative or coopertive? all will determine the verdict

Not guilty of DUI. He wasn't driving. Care and control is another story but that wasn't the charge.

I would have to say guilty, just cause the potential to drive was there. He shoulda called a buddy and had him drive, or a cab (if available). Sorry JMHO.

I voted no,, but in reality, he's goin down. I got mine several years ago when my truck was not moving. But I was in it, keys in ignition. Guilty. Had a good lawyer too. I was .005% over the legal limit. Thats 5 thousands of one percent. I have a friend that got it about a year ago same way. Off on a remote gravel road, engine off, "talking" with a lady friend.

I'd say quilty, he was behind the wheel with engine running, no proff that he didn't pass out and just get stoped before hitting what ever.

Additional info for pondering:
- The state was Nevada.
- He was only charged with DUI - no other offense was charged nor was he ticketed for any.
- having a .0799999999999999999999999999999 alcohol level is not an offense (with some inapplicable exceptions, of course).
- Just a reminder - for now, and since at least 1789, we are all presumed innocent in our criminal justice system.

I'll post the actual verdict when we have 12 votes..........

There. I made it 12. I know that in most places he'd be found guilty, but I went with not guilty because I'd like to believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty, and unless someone saw the guy driving within a certain period of time, it would be hard to prove it. Then again, that could go either way, depending on witnesses.

The verdict

In the actual case, tried this past Wednesday, the jury found the defendent NOT GUILTY.

As one of the jurors, (selected as Foreperson by default - no one else was willing to take it and I wanted to go home that night), it was an interesting case in many ways. First was that there was no specific precedence -and I'd have thought that one other time in the state someone would have been tried for this exact same circumstance. But I guess all other similar cases were either pled guilty to without a trial, or the charges were not DUI.

Everyone on the jury felt that it was real likely that he was drunk when he drove the truck to that spot along the road - but there was no proof he was, and he did have enough empties in his truck to become drunk after arriving there.

There was always this thought, too, which we discussed: if drunk drivers can get a DUI for sleeping it off in a parked vehicle, then why shouldn't they just try to drive home anyway? So, at least in Nevada, you can now legally sleep in your legally parked & running vehicle without worrying about a DUI.

You may be charged with Public Intoxication, however......

Maybe the fight with his wife was about him drinking and driving, and he didn't want to go home.