The Oregon Court of Appeals on Thursday threw out the conviction of a man who was found guilty of driving under the influence of intoxicants for operating his motorized wheelchair while drunk in a crosswalk.
James Richard Greene was under the influence of alcohol and other drugs when he piloted his wheelchair into a Lincoln County crosswalk and struck the side of a moving pickup truck on Oct. 16, 2012, according to an Appeals Court summary of the case. Greene was injured, and about a month later, the Lincoln County District Attorney's Office charged him DUII.
A jury found him guilty after a two-day trial in June 2013.
But the Appeals Court agreed with Greene's lawyers that Greene was a "pedestrian" under the definition of Oregon law and his motorized wheelchair didn't fit the legal definition of a "vehicle" under the circumstances of his case.
The Appeals Court, however, didn't make any explicit findings about whether different circumstances could lead to a DUII conviction, such as if a drunk person was driving a motorized wheelchair down the lanes of a road or in a public parking lot. ..Continued.. by Aimee Green
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