Man loses fight for right to sleep in car
By Steve Irsay, Court TV
CLAREMONT, N.H. (Court TV) —
You have the constitutional right to remain silent,
as well as the right to an attorney. You do not, however, have the right to
sleep off a night of drinking in your idling car. That was the ruling
handed down last week by the New Hampshire Supreme Court in the unusual case
of William Winstead. Winstead's eventual trip to the top of the New
Hampshire court system began in April 2002 in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart
Supercenter. After drinking a six-pack of Bacardi Silvers, Winstead,
25, decided to sleep in his car until he sobered up enough to drive.
Winstead left his Saturn's engine running to keep warm, but had the car in
neutral and the emergency brake on. He slept soundly until police
officer Shawn Hallock roused him at about 3 a.m. on April 6, 2002. Winstead
admitted drinking but said he planned to sleep until he sobered up. He
passed two Breathalyzer tests. Hallock also asked Winstead to take a
blood test to check for drug use, Winstead said. Though the test showed he
was not on drugs, it did reportedly confirm that he was still legally drunk.
Winstead was charged with, and later convicted of, drinking and
driving, even though the car was in neutral. He challenged the conviction on
several grounds, including the fact that he wasn't driving. The high
court upheld the conviction, agreeing with prosecutors that Winstead met the
New Hampshire standard for being in actual physical control of his car, even
though he was asleep.
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