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Title: Driving while immobile The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the DWI conviction of a man sleeping in a parked car.
Source:
http://www.mndaily.com
URL Source: http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/25/driving-while-immobile
Published: Mar 28, 2009
Author: EDITORIAL BOARD
Post Date: 2009-03-28 02:43:42 by freepatriot32
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Keywords: Driving, DWI conviction, parked car, jack booted thugs
Views: 180
Comments: 5
That Daryl Fleck , 55, may not have intended to drive when he was found sleeping drunk in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, parked in his home lot at 11:30 p.m. “is immaterial,” Judge Terri Stoneburner argued in a Minnesota Appeals Court decision that upheld Fleck’s drunk driving conviction. Under Minnesota’s Driving While Impaired statute, 169A.20, it is illegal for any person with a blood-alcohol concentration in excess of .08 to “drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle.” Stoneburner argues in accordance with State v. Starfield : “Physical control is meant to cover situations where an inebriated person is found in a parked vehicle that, without too much difficulty, might again be started and become a source of danger.” But “mere presence in or about the vehicle is not enough for physical control; it is the overall situation that is determinative.” Unfortunately for Fleck, the court found the keys situation determinative, but the slumber situation irrelevant. Stoneburner actually ruled a passed-out Fleck capable of starting a car “without too much difficulty.” A sleeping drunk with no intent to drive or motion to constitute driving can now be charged under Minnesota’s Driving While Impaired statute. Make no mistake: This ruling holds that the potential to commit crime constitutes actual crime, and one is guilty until proven innocent. “There is no evidence his purpose for being in the vehicle was inconsistent with driving,” the opinion stated. The Fleck case, like Starfield before it, is downright tyrannical law. Minnesota should increase DWI penalties before stretching enforceability beyond the reasonable meaning of language. Whether the keys are near them or not, a snoring drunk has no more control of a vehicle than he does with his dreams. Daryl Fleck now faces four years in prison for never actually posing a danger to his self or others.
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#1. To: All, *libertarians*, *LEAP*, *Humor-Weird News* (#0)
ping
but I would not feel so all alone...
The ultimate effect of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. - Herbert Spencer
BULL> The mos they had was public intox. But the robed tyrants will find himguilty for trying to do the right thing. LOCK AND LOAD!!! I am sick of this SHIT!
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON. It's over. Last one here turn out the lights.
In my state if you're sleeping it off in the car then the keys must be removed from the ignition. Otherwise the cops can say that you simply passed out while driving and are indeed a "traffic criminal". "But, Your Honor, the ignition switch was in the off position!" "Yes, but perhaps a Good Samaritan saw you passed out and reached in to kill the motor." You see how it works? If you're intoxicated but have the good judgment to realize it and you remove the keys before sleeping, then the state must give you the benefit of any doubt. If for no other reason it's not against the law to get drunk and sleep in a car, unless the car is resting up against a hydrant or lamppost with the radio blaring, headlights on and the radiator steaming....
Insane. They'll send him up while paroling murderers and rapists? The people of MN are in trouble. I wonder if they grasp that.
but the sheiks would shriek and the barons would bellow if hemp was made legal...and people became mellow
#2. To: freepatriot32 (#0)
#3. To: freepatriot32, rotara (#0)
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#4. To: freepatriot32 (#0)
#5. To: freepatriot32 (#0)
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