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Title: You can't drive drunk in your own driveway, Supreme Court finds
Source:
M Live
URL Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/i ... verse_2.html#incart_river_home
Published: Jul 25, 2017
Author: Dana Afana
Post Date: 2017-07-26 09:22:03 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 3254
Comments: 13
The Michigan Supreme Court this week reversed two lower court rulings that a man couldn't be prosecuted for driving drunk in his own driveway. Gino Rea of Northville was arrested in 2014 after a police officer watched him back his vehicle out of, and then back into his garage. His blood-alcohol level was later determined to be three times the legal limit for driving, according to court documents. But an Oakland County Circuit judge dismissed the case, and the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal in 2016, finding that he "was not operating his vehicle in an area generally accessible to motor vehicles." Michigan's law against drunken driving states: "A person, whether licensed or not, shall not operate a vehicle upon a highway or other place open to the general public or generally accessible to motor vehicles, including an area designated for the parking of vehicles, within this state if the person is operating while intoxicated." The Supreme Court disagreed with the appeals court's definition of "generally accessible." "In light of the dictionary definitions of these words, 'generally accessible' means usually or ordinarily capable of being reached," wrote Justice Richard Bernstein in the majority opinion issued Monday. "In contrast to the phrase "open to the general public," which concerns who may access the location, the phrase 'generally accessible to motor vehicles' concerns what can access the location ... In this case, defendant's driveway was designed for vehicular travel and there was nothing on his driveway that would have prevented motor vehicles on the public street from turning into it." Police went to the man's home in response to complaints from neighbors about loud music. Rea, according to court documents, had been drinking and was inside his vehicle listening to music. When an officer walked up the driveway during a third visit to the home, Rea backed out of his garage, onto the driveway, then pulled it forward and bumped into some items inside the garage, according to court documents. Rea, who smelled of alcohol and whose speech was slurred, according to police, was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. In court, police acknowledged that the the car never traveled beyond the front of the house. The Supreme Court sent the case back to Oakland County for prosecution. Justices Stephen Markman Brian Zahra and Kurtis Wilder joined Bernstein in the majority opinion. Justices Bridget Mary McCormack and David Viviano dissented, finding that "a place is 'generally accessible' ... if it is a place 'where vehicles are routinely permitted to enter.'" Poster Comment: Comment from the site: Ah, yes. Some more of that good, old, down-home conservative "freedom" and "liberty". Now your driveway and its immediate surroundings - extending no farther than the front of your house - are considered "generally accessible to the public", as opposed to the much more sensible definition of a place where vehicles are not "routinely permitted to enter." I mean.................I have strange vehicles pulling in and out of and up and down my driveway on a daily basis! I agree - this is just another bullshit revenue extortion scheme. Arrested on YOUR OWN PROPERTY for "drunk driving"? How utterly fascist.
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#1. To: All (#0)
Better not be drinking a beer while cutting the lawn with a riding mower - at least in Michigan. And my guess is that the State of Michigan doesn't want you driving drunk up and down your driveway where you might injure or kill people who are pulling in and out of and up and down your driveway. Of course, if you don't live in Michigan this doesn't affect you.
What is it about the concept of "your driveway" that has you confused? What part of Michigan State law don't you understand?
Have you ever admitted to anyone that some laws are bullshit? No, of course not. Many times. And I've added that those laws should be changed. I've never advocated for people to break a bullshit law then take their case to social media, hoping to put pressure on the authorities and make money off a GoFundMe page.
Well, it's time. It's time to IGNORE bullshit laws, because there are thousands of them, and lobbyists will make sure they're not repealed. Juries need to be educated about Jury Nullification and Americans need to IGNORE bullshit laws and Big Stupid Government. There's no other way to change this crap anymore. It's gone too far. We had enough laws for a civil society a hundred years ago; now they only serve to carve up the stolen loot.
And YOU define what laws are bullshit, right? How convenient for you. I mean, this is all about YOU and YOUR rights and YOUR freedom and screw everyone else, right?
No, free Americans need to define bullshit laws, since the politicians won't do it. Apparently, you'll bow down and do any random bullshit thing they tell you to do - free citizens aren't that cowardly. Time for a citizen revolt against arrogant, tyrannical, parasitic pricks.
If the voters in Michigan wanted to get rid of this "bullshit" driveway law, are are are you telling me they would be unable to do so? Or are you really saying it would be too haaaard and that it would take worrrrk, and it would be easier to simply flaunt the law.
Docket No. 153908. Argued on application for leave to appeal April 25, 2017. Decided July 24, 2017. Gino R. Rea was charged in the Oakland Circuit Court with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI), MCL 257.625(1). A police officer parked his patrol vehicle in the street in front of defendant’s driveway while responding to noise complaints from defendant’s neighbor. As the officer walked up the straight driveway, defendant backed out of his detached garage and down the driveway. When the officer shined his flashlight to alert defendant that he was in the driveway, defendant stopped his car in the driveway, next to the house. Defendant then put his car in drive and pulled forward into the garage, bumping into stored items in the back of the garage. Defendant, who smelled of alcohol and whose speech was slurred, was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated after he refused to take field sobriety tests; defendant’s blood alcohol level was later determined to be three times the legal limit set forth in MCL 257.625(1)(b). After his arraignment, defendant moved to quash the information. The court, Colleen A. O’Brien, J., granted the motion and dismissed the charge, finding that the upper portion of defendant’s driveway, closest to the garage, was not a place generally accessible to motor vehicles for purposes of criminal liability under MCL 257.625(1). On appeal, the Court of Appeals, GLEICHER, P.J., and SHAPIRO, J., (JANSEN, J., dissenting), affirmed the trial court’s order, concluding that because the general public is not widely permitted to access the upper portion of a private driveway, defendant’s operation of his vehicle while intoxicated did not fit within the purview of behavior prohibited under MCL 257.625(1). 315 Mich App 151 (2016). The Supreme Court ordered and heard oral argument on whether to grant the prosecution’s application for leave to appeal or take other peremptory action. 500 Mich 871 (2016). In an opinion by Justice BERNSTEIN, joined by Chief Justice MARKMAN and Justices ZAHRA, and WILDER, the Supreme Court, in lieu of granting leave to appeal, held: MCL 257.625(1) of the Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.1 et seq., prohibits a person, whether licensed or not, from operating a vehicle upon a highway or other place open to the general public or generally accessible to motor vehicles, including an area designated for the parking of vehicles within this state if the person is operating while intoxicated. The phrase “generally accessible” in MCL 257.625(1) is not defined by the Michigan Vehicle Code. In light of the dictionary definitions of these words, “generally accessible” means usually or ordinarily capable of being reached. In contrast to the phrase “open to the general public,” which concerns who may access the location, the phrase “generally accessible to motor vehicles” concerns what can access the location. Accordingly, when determining whether a place is generally accessible to motor vehicles, the focus is not on whether most people can access the area or have permission to use it but on whether most motor vehicles can access the area. In context, MCL 257.625(1) prohibits an intoxicated person from operating a motor vehicle in a place that is usually capable of being reached by self-propelled vehicles. Had the Legislature intended to prohibit driving while intoxicated only in areas actually used by motor vehicles, it would have used different language in the statute. In this case, defendant’s driveway was designed for vehicular travel and there was nothing on his driveway that would have prevented motor vehicles on the public street from turning into it. Accordingly, defendant’s driveway was generally accessible to motor vehicles for purposes of MCL 257.625(1). The Court of Appeals erred by affirming the trial court’s dismissal of the OWI charge against defendant. Court of Appeals judgment reversed, circuit court order of dismissal vacated, and the case remanded.
There are thousands of these bullshit laws nationwide and we've got better things to do than waste months or years trying to get parasites to push the paperwork on each one. Let's try another approach; disregard all bullshit laws, make jury nullification commonplace and hasten the collapse of all this crap. They don't care about us, we don't care about them. Parasites need us a lot more than we need the parasites.
Or for fuck's sake! Nothing like stretching the definition of "public roadway" to its most ridiculous extreme in order to bust a guy on HIS OWN property. It's downright Orwellian.Arrested on YOUR OWN PROPERTY for "drunk driving"?
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
I mean.................I have strange vehicles pulling in and out of and up and down my driveway on a daily basis!
#3. To: misterwhite (#2)
...the State of Michigan doesn't want you driving drunk up and down your driveway...
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#4. To: Deckard (#3)
What is it about the concept of "your driveway" that has you confused?
#5. To: misterwhite (#4)
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#6. To: Deckard (#5)
Have you ever admitted to anyone that some laws are bullshit?
#7. To: misterwhite (#6)
I've never advocated for people to break a bullshit law then take their case to social media
#8. To: Hank Rearden (#7)
Well, it's time. It's time to IGNORE bullshit laws
#9. To: misterwhite (#8)
(Edited)
#10. To: Hank Rearden (#9)
"No, free Americans need to define bullshit laws, since the politicians won't do it."
#11. To: Deckard (#0)
PEOPLE v REA
#12. To: misterwhite (#10)
(Edited)
If the voters in Michigan wanted to get rid of this "bullshit" driveway law, are are are you telling me they would be unable to do so?
#13. To: nolu chan (#11)
In this case, defendant’s driveway was designed for vehicular travel and there was nothing on his driveway that would have prevented motor vehicles on the public street from turning into it.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
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