An Associated Press article in the Arizona Republic’s online newspaper (www.azcentral.com) details a recent case where a driver claimed that he was not drunk at the time he slid off an icy road, but, in order to keep warm while waiting for emergency crews, he began to drink and was legally intoxicated by the time emergency crews arrived on the scene.

You can access the article here: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2010/11/30/20101130dui-case-drunk-to-keep-warm.html

The defense worked too!  Now obviously this is a special set of facts.  It’s very rare that a person is charge with a DUI in any other situation than a normal traffic stop – or a sting operation where cops wait near local bars and then start pulling people over at around the same time the bar closes and people start going home.   But in this instance, it appears as if there was enough time from the initial call to when the emergency crews showed up to at least place a reasonable doubt into the mind of the jurors as to when the Defendant actually began to drink.

Since his vehicle was not operational at the point he claims to have been drinking, he could not have been operating his vehicle at the time of his intoxication.  I do think that this story would have ended up differently if the accident involved more than just the Defendant’s vehicle – in all likelihood, he would have been convicted if the accident resulted in an injury to people either with him or in another vehicle.

Again, this is a very unique case, and this defense is not going to work most cases, but it is definitely an interesting defense.  Though, not one that will work in the majority of Arizona cases.