A man police say showed up a day early to vote in an intoxicated state has been taken into custody. The 34-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested and now faces drunk driving charges. It is unclear whether he is still in police custody, or whether he was released on bail.
The report on this bizarre case is incomplete at this time, but the authorities say that the 34-year-old man drove himself to an elementary school in Harrisburg on Nov. 6. It is unclear how police got involved with this situation, but officers on the scene believed the man to be intoxicated. He was subsequently arrested.
A woman identifying herself as his mother contacted the Associated Press when the story broke to reassure the press her son had simply gotten his days mixed up, believing it to be Tuesday instead of Monday. The defendant was not available for comment at the time of this report. So far, police have not listed a court date, nor have they given any indication to the press as to what prompted the man’s arrest.
Pennsylvania prosecutors will have to document the steps that were taken by law enforcement authorities to verify the man’s allegedly intoxicated state at the time of his arrest, in order for him to be convicted of the drunk driving charges filed against him. They can go about this several ways, but their mere suspicion that the man was driving and intoxicated while doing so is not sufficient to prove a drunk driving charge. Prosecutors may have to provide a detailed account of the arrest. If the man’s defense representation finds the evidence against the accused man to be lacking in any way, they could argue that it is inadmissible in court and that the pending charges should be reduced or dismissed entirely.
Source: foxnews.com, “Pennsylvania man charged with DUI after showing up to vote a day early“, Nov. 9, 2017