Man Brings Beer to DWI Court Appearance

[cali]

He was also allegedly carrying four more cans in a bag.
Updated 9:51 AM EDT, Tue, Mar 22, 2011



A 49-year-old man is in Sullivan County Jail without bail after authorities say he showed up for a court hearing on a felony DWI charge drunk and carrying an open can of Busch beer, plus four more cans in a bag.

The Middletown Times Herald-Record reports that Keith Gruber of Swan Lake was an hour and a half late for his court appearance Monday before Sullivan County Judge Frank LaBuda, who asked him if he enjoyed his "liquid lunch."

Gruber said he did, then said he was sorry.

LaBuda sent him to jail with no bail.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Man-Brings-Beer-to-DWI-Court-Appearance-118419829.html?dr

[hobbit709]

1. No more driving for him and a long drying out period is what he deserves,

I've known a few drunks but none were stupid enough to show up in court holding beer.

[JHB]

2. Deliberate defiance? Or just Awesomestupid?

The first is possible, but the second is the way to bet.

[treestar]

3. Can one get into that courthouse without going through security?

I'd have thought they'd have confiscated that! :rofl:

[joshcryer]

4. I bet they let him in just because of how hilarious it was.

:rofl:

[ixion]

5. The man has a problem, and jail is not the solution

yet it seems to be the US 'cure all'. The truth is that our penal system actually breeds criminals.

[cali]

6. yes, he has a problem, but I'm not sure that jail isn't part of the "solution"

How many DWIs has he had? I'm sick and tired of drunk drivers getting back on the roads over and over again and killing people.

[ixion]

11. involuntary rehab, not jail would be more productive

the chances are that this will only accelerate the problem.

[alphafemale]

8. Might not "solve" his problem.

But there is nothing anyone can do "for" him that would help him with that anyway.

He got where he is on his own. The only way out is on his own.

However, jail is a damn good way to prevent another family from having a massive problem when he plows them down and kills a child or parent.

[ixion]

10. An involuntary chronic care program would be more beneficial

so yes, there is something that can be done other than jail.

[WatsonT]

13. Jail would keep him from hurting anyone

[KurtNYC]

14. yes

An alcoholic who lived near us when I was a kid, would buy the biggest cars he could bc he knew he would be driving drunk. And he didn't want to get hurt when he ran into other cars and people. It is a disease but not driving needs to become part of the lifestyle of chronic alcoholics.

[WatsonT]

15. That sort of premeditation

should be taken in to account whenever (god forbid) he did kill someone.

That wasn't an accident or even gross negligence, that was planned murder.

[KurtNYC]

19. indeed -- alcoholism is expressed through denial

to others the alcoholics problem is drinking, but to alcoholics the problem is other people telling them not to drink. But it's a lifestyle so I think they know what is at stake. And it's a given that if you are frequently drunk and own a car, you will drive drunk.

A friend of mine who is a doctor says that when he works ER, he treats the drunk and he treats the victims in the other car and the drunk is usually in much better condition than those who were hit. Large heavy cars hitting cars that are standing still at stoplights and such means that the drunk hits the airbag while the victims get whiplash and glass injuries.

[WatsonT]

21. I've also heard

that many of the spinal injuries result from tensing your muscles prior to a crash.

A relaxed (or drunk) person is at far less of a risk of serious spinal injury.

TANJ

[ixion]

23. okay, so you've put him in jail.... what, for life?

is that your solution? To keep him there for life? Because otherwise you've simply compounded the issue, and done nothing to resolve it. Because now, not only does the guy have chronic alcoholism, but the stigma of jail as well. And do you think that is going to make his life any better when he gets out? Because he will be out, of course. And since you've chosen to make the issue worse, rather than treating it, you've now created a career criminal. Accolades for your enlightened approach!

[yellowcanine]

16. This guy is 49 years old. I am sure other solutions have been tried. Maybe jail is not the

solution to his problem but at least for the time being the public is protected. Someone who does this will also get behind the wheel again while drunk. That can't happen as long as he is in jail.

[NeedleCast]

22. Drinking isn't his problem

Stupid is.

[Dulcinea]

31. At least he'll dry out in jail.

No beer in the pokey.

[timo]

7. same thing

happened in San Marcos Tx a few months back, guy had some 24oz tall boys in a back pack!!

[Lefta Dissenter]

9. jail with no bail

for drinking Busch? It's bad beer, but really, isn't that a little harsh? :shrug:

[TheManInTheMac]

12. You might be a redneck if...

[yellowcanine]

17. I wonder if he also drove himself to court.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

18. What Happened To The Sixth Beer?

He had one in his hand and 4 more in a bag. That's five. Beer comes in SIX-packs.

Probably drank it outside the courthouse so he could work up the courage to go through with a stunt like this.

I'll tell you what he MIGHT be doing, though, in all seriousness. Here in Ohio (and I imagine a lot of States have similar laws), we have something known as "Treatment in lieu of conviction," in which you can complete avoid being convicted of a crime (one time only, of course) if you allege that you committed the crime as a result of having a drug or alcohol problem. The Judge then suspends your case and orders you to undergo drug and/or alcohol treatment. If you successfully complete your treatment, the criminal charge is dismissed. Again, lest people think this is a program ripe for abuse, this is a program you can only avail yourself of ONCE. I think it would be extremely EASY to make the case that this guy has, at the very least, an alcohol problem that affects his behavior. Maybe that's what he was going for (I don't know if this guy's particular State has this kind of provision, but a lot of them do).

Another thing to consider: if this guy is facing a FELONY DUI, that means he's had SEVERAL DUIs in the past. Here in Ohio, a DUI doesn't become a felony until it's your FIFTH offense. I'm guessing this guy has had some exposure to the Court system before.

[blueamy66]

24. there are other reasons for felony DUI

If he had a child in the car....if he was driving on a suspended license....so, it might not have been his fifth offense

And jail isn't gonna do anything good. This guy needs to be in an involuntary in-patient treatment program....for a very long time.

[Stevenmarc]

25. Breakfast

Just add a Slim Jim

[Historic NY]

20. Wait until he finds out how much its will cost him if he wants to drive again...

he will have to have a driver interlock installed.

http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/08/ny-law-requires-breathalyzer-ignition-interlocks-for-convicted-drunk-drivers.html

[Initech]

26. If you bring cheap beer to your DUI hearing, you might be a redneck.

[speltwon]

27. I once had a DUI defendant show up in court drunk

A condition of release (it was their 3rd DUI) from jail was NO consumption of alcoholic beverages. Judge called for a portable breath test on the spot in open court. Blew a .22. Went straight to jail, do not pass Go do not collect...

I would say it was funny, but it was so frigging pathetic, that it actually wasn't.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

28. More Times Than I Care To Mention............

.........I've had people charged with DUI show up to court smelling of alcohol. Also, in a frightening amount of cases, I've had clients show up to court just REEKING of marijuana (I even walked down the sidewalk, heading to court, behind a group of people passing a joint back and forth). But I guess that's not any worse than representing kids accused of gang activity showing up to court dressed very obviously in gang colors.

My favorite one, though, happened several years ago when I was just out of Law School. I was representing a 19-year-old kid accused of dealing drugs. It was actually a mother-and-son operation. When the undercover officer went to the mother to buy heroin, she told him that she only sold pot, and that if he wanted anything harder, he'd have to go see her son. Anyway, the son shows up to court dressed in a canary yellow suit (complete with yellow leather shoes AND--the coup de grace of the entire outfit--a yellow derby with a huge feather sticking out of it about 2 feet). I'm not kidding, the kid actually showed up to court dressed like frickin' Huggy Bear.

Some people just have no sense whatsoever. But then again, if everyone had sense, people like me would be out of a job, so I can't complain too much.

[speltwon]

30. We'd both be out of jobs, or significantly less busy

My favorite mother/son crime story was the time we responded a bomb having gone off in a yard. It turns out it was a dry ice bomb. These are actually pretty powerful, and when placed in the right container can cause a serious amount of damage, or even death/injury if you are close to it when it goes off, get hit by shrapnel, etc.

Anyway, a vehicle was seen fleeing the scene., We caught the vehicle and to make a long story short - mom was driving. SHE bought the dry ice for the kid, heck she had the receipt in her purse, and drove her to the scene, helped him construct the bomb, watched him throw it into the yard,and then acted as getaway driver. Seriously.

Her reason? The kid had borrowed her kid's bicycle and not returned it. This clearly justified throwing a (low level but still) IED on the kid's (parents') LAWN??

People are amazing. She was totally indignant. She wanted us to arrest the kid for failing to return the bicycle her kid loaned him, and didn't see what the big deal was with the dry ice bomb... "it was just a warning".

Ah, life's rich pageant

[jberryhill]

29. Did they have a "no beer" sign?

Who knew?