Prescription Drug DWI Defense Totally Up to Judge
Recently, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled whether a driver can use a prescription drug defense in a DWI license revocation hearing is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. In other words, whether the prescription drug defense can even be raised is up to the district court judge. What the court held in Thorsdon v. Commissioner of Public Safety is that a trial court judge would have to royally screw that decision up for it to be reversed on appeal.
In the past, we blogged here about winning a prescription-drug defense at a license revocation hearing. Many people take prescription medication. As obvious as the sky is blue. When law enforcement officers do not observe indicia of impairment by alcohol or recreational drugs, they will often turn to investigating for controlled substances. Frankly, they do not really care whether someone has a prescription for such a substance. Even if a suspected impaired driver has a prescription for a medication, they must not be abusing it. It must be taken in accordance with their prescription. That was an issue in Thorsdon. The district court highlighted that the driver failed to meet her burden to prove she was taking her prescription according to its prescribed terms. The driver testified that they did not take the medication every day as prescribed. Further, the blood test results did not confirm that the level of the prescribed controlled substance was within a therapeutic range. Being in the therapeutic range is not an absolute requirement, but it sure does help when it is.
When judges are trying to determine whether a driver can prove the prescription drug defense by a preponderance of the evidence, they are going to look at whether someone took the medication as prescribed, including dosage and not drinking alcohol. They are going to evaluate whether the person is within the therapeutic range on their blood or urine test. If you really want to win your case on this issue, have that criterion on your side. Then, it will help if there was no impaired driving conduct or indicators of impairment in the field sobriety testing thereafter. Those things are not a must but will certainly aid a judge in believing you truly were taking your medication as prescribed. Unfortunately, not every decision maker (judge or jury) will truly presume you innocent. Sometimes, you must prove it to get the win.
There are several instances of legitimate prescription drug defense DWI cases. For a consultation at no charge, please contact us by phone or text: 612-547-3199 or by email: ambroselegal@icloud.com.
Robert H. Ambrose is a criminal defense attorney and DWI lawyer in the Twin Cities and the state of Wisconsin. Super Lawyers named him a Super Lawyer for the past three years and a Rising Star in the preceding six years. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. DWI Attorney Minneapolis MN; Criminal Defense Attorney Wisconsin; and DUI Lawyer Minnesota.