3 Doors Down musician meets closed door with DUI appeal
The human body and the science of impairment are complex matters. The criminal justice system likes to try to simplify the issue of impairment, but there can be more to a seemingly impaired driver than too much alcohol in his system.
It wasn’t just the fact that a famous musician was the defendant that made a recent DUI appeal notable. Bassist for music group 3 Doors Down, Todd Harrell, was charged with driving under the influence following a July 2012 crash. He and his DUI defense team argued that the crash was not the result of DUI drugs or alcohol.
According to the defense and a neurologist who testified in the DUI case, Harrell might have acted impaired like authorities report he was at the time of the wreck, but his behavior could be explained by a legal reason. Perhaps Harrell seemed under the influence of drugs or alcohol because he suffered a head injury in the collision.
In the end, the judge wasn’t persuaded by the argument used to appeal the DUI conviction. Tests reveal that Harrell had various prescription drugs in his system when he rear-ended a vehicle more than a year ago, and the judge believes those substances were the root of the accident and the defendant’s actions.
We wrote about Harrell in a past DUI post. After the above-described accident, the music star got into another accident in Tennessee. That crash was fatal for one victim. Harrell is accused of DUI for that incident, too, and continues in the fight against a vehicular homicide charge.
Source: WLOX 13, “3 Doors Down bassist loses appeal of DUI conviction,” Danielle Thomas, Jan. 9, 2014