Miguel Cabrera faces FL DUI charge!

I know that most people will read the facts of this case and chuckle and think this is a slam dunk DUI case, but based on the facts reported so far, this looks like it could be a difficult DUI case for the State to prove.  Here are the facts as reported at the time of this post…

Cabrera was spotted by a deputy in a car with a smoking engine alongside a road in Fort Pierce. Inside the vehicle, Cabrera smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and took a swig from a bottle of scotch in front of a deputy, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. He refused to cooperate and more deputies were called to the scene.

According to the police report, Cabrera was wandering into the road with his hands up before he was handcuffed. The report quoted him saying, “Do you know who I am? You don’t know anything about my problems,” and cursed at deputies who tried to get him into a patrol car.

One deputy struck Cabrera in the left thigh several times with his knee after Cabrera pushed into him, causing the ballplayer to fall into the patrol car. Cabrera refused to take a breath test, deputies said.

The law in the State of Florida requires the State to prove that your normal faculties were impaired at the time you were driving, says the expert at Nerhora Law.  This means that the State will have to prove that Cabrera was impaired prior to his car becoming disabled, and not after. It could be a tough task for the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cabrera didn’t start drinking after his car broke down, which would mean Cabrera is not guilty of DUI.