Connecticut DUI Update: Physical control opinion
The Connecticut Supreme Court has issued a new actual physical control opinion, reinstating the conviction of a man who started the vehicle with a remote control and then sat in the vehicle but never drove.
The opinion can be read here.
Here is an excerpt from an article describing the case:
Conn. court restores non-driving DUI conviction - Projo 7 to 7 News Blog | Rhode Island news | The Providence Journal: "HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Drunken people don't actually have to drive their cars to be charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The court's 5-to-0 ruling came in the case of Michael Cyr, who was arrested in Manchester in February 2005 in a parking lot near a bar. He had started his car remotely and then sat in the driver's seat intoxicated, but never put the key in the ignition and didn't drive anywhere.
Justices ordered the state Appellate Court, which had thrown out Cyr's conviction, to reinstate it and send the case back to Manchester Superior Court for sentencing.
Cyr, 50, of Andover, faces a year in prison followed by three years of probation. He pleaded no contest after a judge rejected his motions to dismiss the case. It's his third drunken driving conviction, following others in 1997 and 1998.
'In starting the engine of his vehicle remotely then getting behind the steering wheel, the defendant clearly undertook the first act in a sequence of steps necessary to set in motion the motive power of a vehicle,' Chief Justice Chase Rogers wrote in the opinion.
The 'motive power' phrase comes from a 1939 Connecticut court decision, cited by the Supreme Court on Monday, that defines what constitutes 'operating' a motor vehicle."
Clearly it is not a good idea to use your vehicle as a shelter to "sleep it off" if you need to use the vehicle's heater or air conditioning.
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