Man, Facing Drunk Driving Charges Arrives At Court - Drunk

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UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- Something smelled rotten when Michael Hanczyk showed up in court to fight a drunken driving charge. Authorities say it was the booze on his breath.

A judge stopped a hearing Tuesday and ordered the 42-year-old Hanczyk to take a field sobriety test after he and others said they smelled alcohol on Hanczyk's breath.

"Everyone smelled him," said district attorney Nancy Vernon.

A breath test indicated that Hanczyk had a blood alcohol content of 0.296 percent, more than three times the state's legal limit, Vernon said.

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3614707/detail.html

What a moran!

Damn, am I ever glad I did not go to college there.

On edit -

No A/C in the Courthouse, either.

I can't smell anything but I know that look and that "hunched over the seat trying desperately to stay awake and not heave" look. I was in court on an insurance thing (a car I didn't even own anymore) and the guy just down the bench from me HAD to be loaded. The number of people who showed up for court in StoneCold Steve Austin t-shirts and the like was amazing to me, they were almost all for DUI's.

and I was a public defender for a while. As far as BAC goes, a .29 (at least amongst those in the business) is not THAT impressive. I have had clients show up for trial in various stages of drunkenness, or sunk on heroin, and it never works out well. Judges know when people are fucked up, and they basically dole out the maximum to those who show the court no respect and evidence no fear of justice.

But, as far as my BAC comment, I've got an interesting story:

My first year as a P.D., I was working in the county prison. You see, P.D.'s typically have an office in the prison in order to make sure that everyone inside has a chance to see an attorney. At any rate, this hispanic guy comes in, crying his eyes out--I mean, BAWLING. I look at his sheet, and he's in for stealing a bicycle and drunk in public. We're talking about a slap-on-the-wrist case at worst. The law recommends probation for this! So, through an interpreter, I explain this to him, expecting him to stop crying at any minute. He doesn't. He goes back to his cell, still sobbing. At the time, I'm thinking that he didn't understand a word I said.

One month later, at his Preliminary Hearing, I show up to represent him, and he's still in shackles, being transported by County Sherriffs from prison to court. The guy's done 45 days on a charge that should have netted him probation at best (apparently could not make bail of any sort, and this is a country-fried county, so brown people are not given ROR)!! And he's still crying.

So we start the PH, and we find out that the owner of the bicycle saw my client riding his bike down the main drag of the town, at which point he called the cops. Well, the cops show up to find my client riding the bike down the shoulder of the road. During cross, I find out from the cops that my client was not swerving or anything--just riding the bike like anyone else.

The cops pulled him over though, because of the stolen bike. They smell "the strong odor of alcohol" on his breath and give him a roadside breathalyzer, which registers a .54% BAC. They don't believe it, so they do it again: .54% BAC. They call another car to come give another test (they were having a little fun, obviously), and whaddya know, another .54% BAC. And the only reason they knew he was drunk was the odor. He passed ALL field tests (ordinarily they would not be given for a drunk-in-public, but again, the cops were kinda having fun--experimenting if you will). This .54% BAC was later confirmed through a blood test.

As it turns out, my client had asked a neighbor if he could borrow his bike to ride to (wait for it) the liquor store, and the neighbor said "sure." My client took the wrong bike. The judge thought this was a travesty, that the guy would spend 45 days in jail, lose his job and his apartment, and all over a misunderstanding. During the entire hearing, my client is sobbing quietly. When it's over, the judge dismisses all charges and offers his apology for the circumstances my client found himself in. My client is still crying.

Finally, we go into the conference room with the interpreter (a good one this time, not a jailhouse interpreter), and we debrief the client. I ask him why won't he stop crying, and out it comes...

He was a Honduran immigrant who used to live in NYC and who additionally was working at the Windows of the World restaurant in the WTC. His wife was on the janitorial staff. He was there on 9/11. He got out. His wife did not. He witnessed such horrible things that he was still suffering from PTSD when I dealt with him in 1993. He had not been sober (other than his time in jail) since 9/11.

I went back and told the judge and the cops and the D.A. what I had learned, in order to explain all the crying (and also to make the D.A. and the cops feel like the shits they were). Each of them took out their wallets, and nobody gave less than a $20. The judge must've given $100. He also signed an order to have the county pay for any voluntary mental health or alcohol treatment for my client. I returned, gave him the roughly $250 we had all pitched in, and explained what the judge was willing to do. I left that day and never saw him again.