Medical Issues and Vehicle Malfunction Defenses

›››The following content is an excerpt from a live interview with Richard Jacobs founder of my DUI Attorney dot org. The interview has been transcribed and contains information for educational purposes only. Please call Michael Munoz to get legal advice for your particular situation

Medical Issues and Vehicle Malfunction Defenses to Serious Vehicle Crimes

Munoz: Other things can come into play as well, for instance, the client might have their own medical issues, which happens a lot in cases. Sometimes a person was not under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, but they instead had a severe medical condition and had prescription drugs in their system.

Some people have been diagnosed with sleep disorders, others have bad eyesight, but they still have the privilege to drive and they get in collisions. These are all good defenses when the state is saying you murdered somebody, because sometimes it’s not murder, it’s just an accident.

Interviewer: What about malfunctions in the vehicle? Let’s say the brakes fail or there’s other mechanical problems with the vehicle?

Munoz: Mechanical malfunction is also a huge defense. Like you said, the brakes may go out, the power can go out in the vehicle, you could blow a tire… There’s many possible things that could’ve happened that caused the collision other than reckless conduct.

Munoz: Also in endangerment cases, the country attorney’s office usually doesn’t charge endangerment unless there was a massive collision and somebody was hurt. Endangerment just means your reckless conduct put somebody at risk of being hurt, and it’s not charged too often.

By Michael Munoz