I know I haven’t even started the first sentence and you are already thinking - whaaaattt?? But lets pose a hypothetical situation:
Say you and your pals are partying it up at say a big wedding reception. You have no intentions of driving anywhere and are consuming copious amounts of alcohol. You make a move on the hottest bridesmaid there and she seems very interested. That is until her MMA star boyfriend notices your affections to his baby momma. Long story short - everybody ends up in the parking lot for some good ol fist-a-cuffs. Of course it doesnt take the cops long to show up to break up a great fight where you were doing a great job blocking his punches with your face. The cops separate everyone and find out MMA star has a warrant. Cops cant put both of you in the same car and kinda want to cut you some slack soooo the cop tells you to get in your car and get out of there. You kinda stand there dumb struck and the cop says - “thats an order -get in your car and get out of here!” You follow the cops orders. You get in your car, adjust the mirrors, fasten your seat belt, put about 7 pieces of gum in your mouth, and put the car in gear. Only you are too drunk to realize you have the car in reverse and not forward so you back into the cops cars. So what do you think?? Have you been entrapped to the crime of DUI??
Believe it or not a looser based fact pattern occurred in New Jersey. The defendant claimed entrapment by the police and that he never intended to drive anywhere. But alas, as my previous blogs have pointed out - DUI has no mental state requirement. You either did it or not, your state of mind is almost irrelevant.
A similar defense is the one of duress. Some defendants claim this when someone is deathly sick and they claim they HAD to drive them to safety or to a hospital. A recent Tennessee case allows defendants to submit for the jury to hear the duress claim but it is ultimately up to the jury to buy it or not.
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