The Supreme Court has given us many gifts over the years, including a recently rediscovered eggnog recipe.
The recipe emerged in the late 1990s, in the papers of Harlan Fiske Stone, who was Chief Justice in the early 1940s. The papers attributed the recipe to an unidentified person, Harry Parker. Shortly after the recipe’s 1998 publication, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist identified Parker as a runner for the court in the 1940s and 50s.
Rehnquist also told a story which gave a glimpse of race relations at the time. Parker was home for several weeks with pneumonia, Rehnquist wrote. “Because he was an elderly man, we worried about him, and I called him up one day to tell him I would like to come and see him. He told me that would not be a good idea—that white people simply did not come into a black neighborhood like his. I nonetheless drove out to his house, whereupon he opened his upstairs window and conveyed the same message, in a gentle but determined way.”
The recipe calls for a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, nutmeg, a pound of sugar, a quart of whiskey, a half-pint of brandy, and an eighth-pint of rum. Separate egg yolks from whites, cream yolks of eggs and sugar together, add the booze and beat well, add milk and stir well, and add nutmeg to taste. If kept cold, the leftovers (and hopefully you’ll have leftovers) should be good for about thirty days.
DUI in Criminal Court
When used responsibly, alcohol may be the best party drug ever invented. When used irresponsibly, it has a number of severe personal and societal consequences. These consequences include criminal and civil legal responsibility.
Let’s start with the criminal law consequences. Alcohol consumption shoots up during the holidays. Law enforcement efforts increase commensurately. Sobriety checkpoints are the best example of this ho-ho-ho crackdown.
DUI roadblocks are legal in Georgia, if they meet all official legal requirements. These requirements include:
- Legislative Authorization: The Georgia Legislature has approved the use of DUI roadblocks in the state, which means all DUI roadblocks in Georgia meet this requirement. However, what the Legislature gives, it can also take away. So, this status isn’t permanent.
- Supervisor Setup: A law enforcement supervisor, usually a sheriff, police chief, or other person directly accountable to voters, must authorize a checkpoint at a certain location at a certain time. The supervisor may then delegate operational details to a subordinate.
- Clear Signage: Police officers may lie in wait for motorists at speed traps. A DUI roadblock is not a speed trap. Instead, the checkpoint must be well lit. Warning signs must state the purpose (“DUI Checkpoint Ahead””) and give instructions (“Have Drivers’ License and Proof of Insurance Ready”).
- Neutral Formula: This requirement is the heart and soul of a DUI checkpoint. Checkpoint operators cannot randomly detain motorists. Instead, they must detain motorists according to a set formula, such as stopping every other vehicle. If traffic backs up, officers may temporarily change the formula to allow traffic to flow.
- Short Detention: There’s no specific neutral formula, and there’s no hard-and-fast rule as to what constitutes an unreasonable detention. Usually, however, any delay longer than about thirty seconds is too long. The clock starts ticking when motorists get in line and stops ticking when the vehicle passes through the checkpoint.
If officers detect physical evidence of alcohol consumption, such as bloodshot eyes or an odor of alcohol, they usually conduct field sobriety tests, like walking a straight line. If the driver fails these tests, police officers demand a chemical sample, usually a breath sample.
Georgia has a per se DUI law. If the driver’s BAC level is above the legal limit, the driver is intoxicated as a matter of law, unless a Marietta criminal defense lawyer creates a reasonable doubt as to the gadget’s reliability or gets the result thrown out of court on a technical ground.
If the driver refuses to provide a chemical sample, prosecutors can use the field sobriety tests to establish the loss of normal mental and physical faculties. Significantly, that impairment must be due to alcohol, not because the driver was sleepy, nervous, or clumsy.
Because circumstantial evidence DUIs are harder to prove, prosecutors often use the “less safe to drive” subsections. A less-safe DUI has the same direct consequences as any other DUI, but the collateral consequences, such as higher auto insurance rates, are often less severe in these cases.
DUI in Civil Court
If alcohol impairment or intoxication substantially causes an injury collision, a Marietta personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation for the victim in court.
Frequently, that victim is in another vehicle. However, the injured victim could be a passenger in the tortfeasor’s (negligent driver’s) vehicle. Injured passengers have the same rights as all other injured victims. Yet often, mostly for personal reasons, passenger victims don’t exercise their rights.
Usually, injured passenger don’t want tortfeasors, with whom they have personal relationships, to “pay” for “accidents.”
Tortfeasors usually pay nothing in these cases. An auto insurance company, or perhaps a third party (more on that below), pays all the bills. Furthermore, drunk driving isn’t an accident. People accidentally leave the gate open. They don’t accidentally drink too much, get behind the wheel, and crash.
As outlined above, criminal prosecutors have several tools available to punish drunk drivers. Similarly, a Marietta personal injury lawyer has two main tools:
- Ordinary Negligence: Alcohol impairment begins with the first sip. Therefore, many drivers are impaired, but not legally intoxicated. Impairment breaches the duty of reasonable care. This legal responsibility requires drivers to be at their best, mentally, physically, and otherwise, every time they get behind the wheel.
- Negligence Per Se: Safety laws establish the standard of care. So, if emergency responders issue a DUI or other citation, which they must in most jurisdictions, the victim could be entitled to damages as a matter of law. These damages normally include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
If the tortfeasor obtained alcohol from a restaurant, bar, or other commercial provider, that provider could be financially responsible for these damages. The dram shop law applies if a commercial provider illegally sells alcohol to a person who causes a personal injury. Illegal sales include underage sales, after-hours sales, and sales to intoxicated people.
When you have very strong eggnog or anything else to drink this holiday season, don’t take chances. Get a ride home. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. Virtual, home, and jail visits are available.
