Anyone ever come across Narcolepsy as a DWI defense? Defendant blew a 0.00, and police neglected to get her blood. help.

John E. Meskunas

With a 0.00 result and no blood, why does he need a defense?

Do you have any evidence of alcohol consumption? If your officers didn't do a DRE (Drug Regognition Expert) or get a sample of blood, I don't think you will have evidence of the driver being impaired.

Does this defendant have medical documentation of falling asleep as a condition? I fall asleep every night...doesn't mean I have a condition!

She looks really bad on tape, and she is 6/6 HGN and shows VGN. Her truck was parked and running in the middle of the road. not sure about the condition, just got notice of the expert. i think the diagnosis was well after the arrest. still waiting on the medical records.

John E. Meskunas

I remember one year back in grade school the teacher in the adjacent classroom had this condition. She would fall asleep uncontrollably. Our teacher moved her desk so she could keep an eye on the other classroom. Those students would walk out when their teacher was asleep. The rumor was that the doctor perscribed amphetamines to keep her awake.

A young woman in a financial management class I'm taking has uncontrolled nystagmus all the time. I've known the young lady ever since she was a teenager working at the coffee shop and she has always had this issue. I told her long ago that she better not ever get a ticket.....I've seen narcolepsy as a defense to other issues in military court, but they always had some medical documentation (usually from one of our doctors).

John makes a great point above. Did she refuse to blow?

If she does legitimately have the illness I'd see what I could do about getting her license revoked.

I am a DRE and SFST Instructor and have never heard of narcolepsy causing HGN. HGN is caused by the ingestion of CNS Depressants, Inhalants and Dissociative Anesthetics (used to be called PCP). Vertical Nystagmus indicates a high dose of the intoxicant for that person. That being said, good job getting the obvioulsy impaired driver off the road but the officers ruined the case by not using their resources and getting a DRE exam done and a blood draw or urine sample to prove up drugs. If anyone can prove that HGN/VGN are inherent to narcolepsy I would love to see the documentation.

Medicine perscribed to treat narcolepsy would be an "other substance" under the definiton of intoxication... maybe the doctor informed her not to drive while using it?

You might ask the defense attorney for documentation of narcolesy and the time the defendant has suffered from the condition. The attorney might be willing to provide this information in hopes that you would dismiss the DWI charge.

If defendant has had it a long time and knew the possibility of falling asleep and having an accident you might consider charging Deadly Conduct, depending on the specific facts in your case.

I also did some research on narcolepsy, and found no indication that HGN or VGN are a symptom of the disease. If she does have some illness that would cause that type of behavior (falling asleep while driving, etc.), at the least refer her to the Medical Advisory Board at DPS for review of her DL status.

Janette A

MScheffler is right.

I inartfully explained my friend's situation above. Her eyes just shake all the time. Narcolepsy has nothing to do with it. Sometimes random thoughts about one subject end up in a post about another. My lovely wife gets on to me about that all the time. Sorry.

The wikipedia page has a lot of info, including a closeup video of nystagmus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nystagmus

Stimulant drugs such as Adderall, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, DextroStat, and Ritalin are used to treat Narcolepsy. Stimulants do not cause Nystagmus.