DWI 2nd / State v. C.M.

Client was found asleep in his vehicle at the McDonalds on Studewood and I-10 after a concerned citizen saw him walking around his truck with two flat tires. When the cops arrived, our client was very obviously not alright. He was spaced out, hallucinating, and making no sense. It was clearly drugs (my best guess was MDMA) and the cops obviously arrested him, as they should’ve. He was, however, finally able to tell his side to the jury: he was out with some friends on Washington, had two drinks and then started sweating and getting anxious and not feeling well. He left immediately, before midnight, and tried to drive home. While driving home, he all of a sudden desperately had to use the bathroom, tried to pull into the 24 hour McDonald’s, but it was closed. Two of his tires popped as he pulled in, and, because he didn’t have two spares, he had to wait for his wife to come pick him up. While she was on her way, whatever it was that his drink had been spiked with kicked in, and it kicked in hard. He has no recollection whatsoever of interacting with the police. The only issue that we had with the police is that they should have called EMS and not just arrested him; he was obviously so messed up that he needed medical help. But there was really no evidence of any traffic violations or any intoxicated driving before he got to the McDonalds. The jury understood the law and realized that the State could absolutely not prove he was intoxicated at the time of driving. The State tried this because it was a second. Luckily, the jury didn’t convict him of the sins of his past life, but followed their oath and decided the case based on the facts at hand. Thank you to that jury for following the law and delivering justice.