Too Drunk To Kill? One Court Considers The Unusual Defense

Defense attorneys arguing before the New York Court of Appeals trotted out a very unusual defense for their clients this past week: that the three were too drunk to know that they posed a danger to others. The case concerns murder convictions for three people: Frank McPherson, Martin Heidgen and Taliyah Taylor.

The three were originally charged with murder after a series of deadly car accidents in New York. Prosecutors argued that the defendants all acted with depraved indifference towards human life when they decided to get behind the wheels of their vehicles while intoxicated. Prosecutors say all three cases, though unrelated, have commonalities. In each case the drivers were legally impaired, traveling above the speed limit and driving in the wrong lane.

Though the three drivers were convicted of murder, their attorneys now claim the prosecutors failed to prove their case. Specifically, the defense argues that their clients could not have acted with depraved indifference given that they were far too impaired to fully appreciate what they were doing.

In the case of Martin Heidgen, the defense claims that Martin was heading the wrong way on the Long Island State Parkway back in 2005 because he was lost. Martin was so impaired that he never even realized he was driving in the wrong direction. Tragically, he eventually collided with an oncoming limo, killing the driving and a seven-year-old girl. He was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. Following the accident, Martin’s blood was tested and he was found to have a BAC of 0.28 percent, more than three times the legal limit.

In another case, Frank McPherson collided with another car while drifting into traffic heading the other direction. Frank’s attorney noted that a police investigation revealed his client never hit the brake prior to the crash, which means that unless he was suicidal (something prosecutors never claimed), he was completely oblivious about where he was and what was going on. The defense attorney argued that no one in their right mind would choose to drive head-on into another car while speeding.

In the final case, Taliyah Taylor was arrested after hitting and killing a pedestrian on Staten Island. That crash occurred while Taliyah was driving naked at 80 miles per hour without headlights. Taliyah admitted to drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and taking Ecstasy prior to driving. Once police arrived on the scene, Taliyah began making irrational statements about how God wanted her to drive.

All three drivers had their murder convictions upheld at a midlevel appeals court and will now await a ruling from New York’s highest court. Experts believe the final decision will be handed down sometime next month and it will be carefully watched by criminal defense attorneys in the state who say the decision could have an important impact on how other similar drunk driving related cases are handled in the future.

Source: Michael Virtanen, published at AP.org.