California DUI - Driving Under the Influence of Drugs - California DUI Lawyer arguments re: Sleep Driving

California DUI is a general intent crime, except that driving requires volitional movement of the vehicle which means specific intent. For a general intent crime, mistake of fact is a possible defense. Mistakenly sleep driving may be a defense to a California DUI.

A California Drunk Driving Lawyer can ask a California DUI jury to be instructed, for example:

If defendant made a reasonable and actual mistake as to a fact, and if that fact were as the defendant believed, then the defendant would be not guilty. (The defendant does not have the intent required and must be found not guilty.)

A California Drunk Driving Attorney may argue a California DUI - Drugs case, depending on the facts, as follows:

A person may have an actual and reasonable belief that the drug would be out of her or his system and not effecting her or him after X hours as indicated by her or his doctor. The doctor told her or him not to drive for X hours. The prescription information says to designate X hours to sleep and use caution when driving. So if that were in fact true, the prescription was out of her or his system and would not effect her or him. Accordingly, a California DUI Attorney may argue defendant should be not guilty as she or he did not have the required intent.

Involuntary intoxication may be based on an unanticipated reaction to medication taken as lawfully prescribed. The recent urging of stronger warnings about medications such as Ambien gives strength to the argument. Some recommendations include not take the sleeping aid until you are actually home and ready to go to bed, and do not mix it with any other RX or alcohol. Some people take the medication before they drove home, figuring it would take time to kick in. A California DUI Lawyer may present researchers showing that people have varying rates of metabolism and tolerance.

If a person is "sleep driving" then she or he is unconscious - this is a separate and distinct defense under Penal Code Section 26 (Four), below.

Penal Code Section 26:

All persons are capable of committing crimes except those
belonging to the following classes:

One--Children under the age of 14, in the absence of clear proof
that at the time of committing the act charged against them, they
knew its wrongfulness.
Two--Idiots.
Three--Persons who committed the act or made the omission charged
under an ignorance or mistake of fact, which disproves any criminal
intent.
Four--Persons who committed the act charged without being
conscious thereof.

There also have been California DUI Law reports of persons home alone, drinking. Long-term users who have had similar sleepwalking experiences, but not sleep-driving to their knowledge. They generally have no valid excuse for being out on the road when they were. They retired to bed for the night and later were arrested with very little post-arrest recollection of the specifics of being stopped by the police, other than the image of lights.
Consult a possible expert: e.g. Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic at Univ. School of Medicine.

Expert's bottom line conclusion: Person's driving not purposeful - lacked volition and an involuntary manifestation of sleepwalking.
FDA Requests Label Change for All Sleep Disorder Drug Products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drug products, a class of drugs used to induce and/or maintain sleep, strengthen their product labeling to include stronger language concerning potential risks. These risks include severe allergic reactions and complex sleep-related behaviors, which may include sleep-driving. Sleep driving is defined as driving while not fully awake after ingestion of a sedative-hypnotic product, with no memory of the event.

“There are a number of prescription sleep aids available that are well-tolerated and effective for many people,” said Steven Galson, M.D., MPH, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “However, after reviewing the available post-marketing adverse event information for these products, FDA concluded that labeling changes are necessary to inform health care providers and consumers about risks.”

In December 2006, FDA sent letters to manufacturers of products approved for the treatment of sleep disorders requesting that the whole class of drugs revise product labeling to include warnings about the following potential adverse events:

Anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) and angioedema (severe facial swelling), which can occur as early as the first time the product is taken.

Complex sleep-related behaviors which may include sleep-driving, making phone calls, and preparing and eating food (while asleep).

FDA has been working with the product manufacturers over the past three months to update labeling, notify health care providers and inform consumers of these risks.

Along with the labeling revisions, FDA has requested that each product manufacturer send letters to health care providers to notify them about the new warnings. Manufacturers sent these letters.

In addition, FDA has requested that manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic products develop Patient Medication Guides for the products to inform consumers about risks and advise them of potential precautions that can be taken. Patient Medication Guides are handouts given to patients, families and caregivers when a medicine is dispensed. The guides will contain FDA-approved information such as proper use and the recommendation to avoid ingesting alcohol and/or other central nervous system depressants. When these Medication Guides are available, patients being treated with sleep medications should read the information before taking the product and talk to their doctors if they have questions or concerns. Patients should not discontinue the use of these medications without first consulting their health care provider.

Although all sedative-hypnotic products have these risks, there may be differences among products in how often they occur. For this reason, FDA has recommended that the drug manufacturers conduct clinical studies to investigate the frequency with which sleep-driving and other complex behaviors occur in association with individual drug products.

The medications that are the focus of the revised labeling include the following 13 products:

Ambien/Ambien CR (Sanofi Aventis)
Butisol Sodium (Medpointe Pharm HLC)
Carbrital (Parke-Davis)
Dalmane (Valeant Pharm)
Doral (Questcor Pharms)
Halcion (Pharmacia & Upjohn)
Lunesta (Sepracor)
Placidyl (Abbott)
Prosom (Abbott)
Restoril (Tyco Healthcare)
Rozerem (Takeda)
Seconal (Lilly)
Sonata (King Pharmaceuticals)

For California DUI Lawyer information on sleep disorders and sedative hypnotic products, go to: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/sedative_hypnotics/default.htm;
www.fda.gov/womens/getthefacts/sleep.html and /or www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/inso/inso_whatis.html.