Finally! The legal system works

Wisconsin court praises drunken concert goer
By SCOTT BAUER, AP

MADISON, Wis. -An Illinois teen knew he was too drunk to drive home after a Dave Matthews Band concert south of Milwaukee. So he fell asleep in his car, only to be awoken by a state trooper.

Travis Peterson, 19, of Dixon, Ill., said even though he told the officer he was drunk and sleeping it off, the trooper ordered him to leave because the lot was being cleared.

Once out of the parking lot, Peterson was arrested for drunken driving. He was subsequently found guilty and ordered to spend 60 days in jail.

A Wisconsin appeals court on Wednesday commended Peterson for doing the right thing by trying to sleep it off, and said the trial court was wrong not to let him argue that police had entrapped him.

The state had argued successfully at trial that people who choose to drink too much can't argue they've been entrapped when stopped for drunken driving. The 2nd District Court of Appeals disagreed.

"Drinking alcohol to excess, while inadvisable and unhealthy, is not unlawful by itself," the appeals court said.

I wish there were some other people in my apartment so I could break into a slow clap. I thought for sure a drunk would never get a fair trial in this country again but these jurors got it right. Prosecutors and MADD want to stiffen penalties for DWIs but why don't cities make it a little easier for people to get home. Send some buses around to the bars late at nite. Start some safe ride programs.

It seems like drunk drivers are often set up to fail. For example, there's this bar we used to go to in San Antone and the overflow parking lot would tow at 7 a.m. the following morning. So if you got too drunk to drive you had to get up at 6 the next morning to get your car. I bet you can figure out what I did instead.