This is an issue often debated by criminal lawyers: is a client having found shelter in his vehicle to spend the night, while he was in a state of drunkenness, guilty of an offence of care or control of a vehicle with impaired faculties? The answer is often yes.
However, it does happen that people charged with this are acquitted by the Judge in this type of situation.
This is what happened in a recent judgment of the Quebec Court (R. v. Farcy Q.C., 2010-07-06). The woman charged was coming back from a bar and could not enter her boyfriend’s residence, because he was violent. So she lay down on the driver’s seat after having started the engine and turned on the emergency brake, and then fell asleep. She was then arrested by the police and charged with an offence similar to drunken driving: care or control of a vehicule while impaired. The Judge acquitted her, because he believed there was no realistic risk that she should start the vehicle, given the specific circumstances.
Any person charged with driving under the influence should consult a criminal lawyer as soon as possible.
