Centre County DUI

Drinking While Parked Not a Crime

The client was sitting in his vehicle while parked outside his estranged wife’s residence. State troopers observed the vehicle and stopped to talk to the client. The trooper smelled the odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and observed what appeared to be an alcoholic drink in a cup. The trooper ordered the client to exit the vehicle and perform field sobriety tests. The client was arrested and transported to the hospital for a blood alcohol concentration test. The blood test evidenced a blood alcohol level of .293%, and the client was charged with DUI.

Experienced State College DUI defense attorney Jason S. Dunkle provided representation at trial and cross-examined the troopers regarding their investigation at trial. Attorney Dunkle used the trooper’s dashboard camera to question the trooper’s administration of the field sobriety tests as well as challenge the memory of the trooper. The defense attorney argued to the jury that insufficient evidence was presented that the client was in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle, so the client should be found not guilty. The district attorney argued that the client was in actual physical control and the blood alcohol concentration of .293% was well beyond the legal limit. The jury was split and could not render a unanimous verdict, so a mistrial was granted.