Please leave this field empty. Consent is not a requirement of purchase. Click to call. Call Now What the law does say is that a person may be arrested if: The intoxication prevents them from being able to care for their own safety or for the safety of others The intoxicated individual obstructs or otherwise interferes with the use of public ways In the context of Penal Code Section f , a public way includes: Sidewalks Streets The hallway of building open to the public Any other location where the public freely travels The wording of the law allows the police to arrest individuals for being drunk in their car.
What if I was in an accident? What if the police officer contends that I refused a blood-alcohol test when I really did not? Can I get a license to go to and from work during a license suspension for a DUI or refusal? Is Drunk Driving Involuntary Manslaughter? Taking a moment to dissect things, you might notice that state law requires you have willfully become drunk.
Next, California law defines a public place as any area outside a home in which a stranger is free to walk. This can be anything from a sidewalk to a restaurant, sports venue, bar, nightclub, a hallway in a hotel or apartment building or in a car on a street. This includes a front lawn, but not a backyard. There have been cases in the past where police have arrived at a private residence to find someone who is drunk.
At this point, the person will be arrested for public intoxication. Can the police do this? As an example: You and a friend are going out for some drinks, and you both have way too many. Most public intoxication laws require that the defendant created some kind of disturbance, such as injuring other persons or harming property, or posing a threat to his own safety.
This element exists to prevent law enforcement officers from arresting someone who has had some alcohol, but is not creating a problem. However, in most states, the definition of "disturbance" is very broad—some states include actions such as blocking sidewalks or using offensive language. Further, if an officer believes that a person's intoxication is posing a threat to that person's own safety, he may be taken into custody and charged with this offense.
The consequences for those convicted of public intoxication will depend on how the state or municipality has classified the behavior—as a crime or a medical condition. There are several potential defenses to public intoxication charges. Most of these focus on showing that there is little or no evidence to support one or more of the elements of the offense, as explained above. Some common examples are explained below.
Not intoxicated. A defendant may argue that he was not intoxicated at the time of the arrest. But because juries and judges tend to believe the testimony of the arresting officer, this defense can be hard to substantiate unless the defendant has concrete evidence such as a blood alcohol test showing that he was not intoxicated. No harm, no foul. A defendant may also introduce evidence to show that he was not causing a disturbance or actual or potential harm to himself or others.
For example, witnesses may be called to show that the defendant was not bothering anyone or anything. Not a public place. Another potential defense is showing that the arrest was not made in a public place, or that the defendant was involuntarily in a public place at the time of arrest.
For example, a defendant may not be ordered out of his home by a law enforcement officer and onto the sidewalk, and then arrested for public intoxication. Prescription medication. Finally, defendants may argue that at the time of the arrest, they were under the influence of a medication taken as directed while under the care of a licensed physician. For example, if the defendant was under the influence of "laughing gas" from a recent dental procedure, he may have a valid defense. Although this definition is relatively straightforward, it has two important elements.
First, under most public intoxication laws, the individual charged with the offense does not actually have to be drunk. Instead, he or she need only appear to be drunk or be acting in a disorderly manner. This is because the crime is meant to protect against a public environment that threatens or intimidates others, or discourages them from using public spaces. Accordingly, an individual who is not actually drunk, but is acting in such a manner, can be charged with the crime.
This also means that, unlike with a DUI , no test for alcohol level is required for a public intoxication charge. A prosecutor can rely on the testimony of law enforcement officers or other witnesses who observed the conduct of the defendant and presumed the defendant to be drunk.
Even in states that do require that the defendant was under the influence of a substance, such as alcohol or a drug, chemical testing is rarely required. Second, public intoxication must take place in a public space. In some circumstances, this is quite obvious. For instance, an individual who is drinking boisterously in his or her own home could not be charged with public intoxication, while someone at a city park clearly could.
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