Bill Powers – DWI DUI Defenses – Automatism

The attorney for a Charlotte woman whose blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit says she may have actually been a victim in the case that landed her in jail charged with DWI.

A UNC-Charlotte police officer found the woman passed out behind the wheel of her car parked near a utility building on campus.

She was wearing only a black bra, and in two tests her blood alcohol level was .24 and .23.

But her attorney, Bill Powers, said she may be one of a growing number of women in the Charlotte area who have had their drinks spiked then end up charged with DWI.

“These cases are ones where people don’t want to admit that something happened to them,” Powers said.

Powers could not talk about the case specifically, but he has represented several other cases in the last 18 months where women say someone spiked their drinks in a bar or club and they ended up drunk behind the wheel of a car, with no idea of how they got there.

The law calls that Automatism, where someone isn’t conscious of what he or she is doing, and is not, therefore, responsible.

“It is scary. It’s scary to think about, that you can be in a bar somewhere and someone puts something in your drink,” Powers said.

Prosecutors don’t comment on pending cases, but a former prosecutor who is now a defense attorney said it is a tough case for a defense attorney to prove.

“You have to show that she became intoxicated involuntarily which then led to unconsciousness essentially,” Mark Foster said.