DUI Attorneys Hear Strange Things

As a DWI attorney or DUI attorney (you understand that DWI and DUI are the same thing, don’t you)? I run into a wide variety of people. Almost all of them have an interesting story.

Just recently I was contacted by a woman who was charged with drunk driving. This wasn’t her first offense. In fact, she had two previous convictions. This made is a felony DWI. In Missouri your third offense of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can lead to a felony charge.

We spoke on the phone and then decided she should come to my office to discuss her case in detail. She arrived at the appointed time.

She was a pleasant woman of about 50 years old. After we got to know a little bit about one another, we got down to the facts of the case. I asked her to tell me what happened. You won’t believe her defense.

Doggonit, How Unfortunate!

She told me that her dog was driving. I mean she looked right at me and said that when she was stopped by the police it was her dog that was driving, not her.

Now keep in mind that this conversation was taking place at about 9:30 a.m. I was pretty sure she had not been drinking, at least not that morning.

You can imagine my surprise. But she held on to that. She told me that she knew she had too much to drink so she put her dog in her lap and put his paws on the steering wheel and she worked the pedals. So, in her version of the story it was the dog that was weaving and caught the attention of the police.

Who Let The Dogs out?

Of course that defense did not go anywhere. She did plead guilty. There were other facts that I argued that kept the conviction from being a felony and kept her out of jail.

I have not heard back from her, or her dog in some time and I am hoping her dog becomes a better driver.