Fayetteville DWI Law Blog

An ex-state trooper, who left his post two years ago after a disabling back injury, was found guilty of DWI, although the former North Carolina patrolman remembers very little about the accident that he allegedly caused. All he remembers is going to bed.

An Orange County, North Carolina court heard the unusual testimony of drivers and investigators, who say they encountered the retired trooper in July 2010 and January 2011 after car crashes. In both cases, the trooper claimed he remembered a little more than being dressed in pajamas while standing in front of a magistrate.

A North Carolina man was in his late 30s when he was sentenced to a 15-year prison term on drunk driving charges related to a fatal car accident. The man was the first impaired driver to be convicted under a 1997 state law that permitted murder allegations to accompany DWI accident charges.

The now 54-year-old man is set to walk out of jail this month. The freedom from confinement will not come without restrictions or constant supervision. The court will not allow the newly freed man to operate a motor vehicle. He also cannot visits establishments where alcohol is served.

A jury in Wilmington, North Carolina, recently convicted a driver of murder for an accident that took the lives of a father and son last spring. The defendant was accused of driving while impaired by alcohol and bath salts.

A toxicology specialist testified that the driver's blood alcohol test read 0.13, nearly double the state 0.08 legal intoxication limit. Prosecutors say the suspect compounded his impairment by spending the previous evening snorting the stimulant mephedrone, commonly known as bath salts.

A federal bill, first introduced following a fatal drunk driving crash in North Carolina, is getting its fourth go-round in Congress, and if passed, would affect those merely charged, not convicted, with DWI. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, who co-sponsored the initial legislation in 2005, wants lawmakers to approve a measure that would deport undocumented immigrants who are charged with DWI.

The bill, called the "Scott Gardner Act," is the latest version of a proposal that circulated among national lawmakers seven years ago. The measure is named for the victim of a car accident in Brunswick County who was killed by an intoxicated driver, an illegal immigrant with a history of multiple drunk driving charges.