automatism

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Is Automatism or Involuntary Intoxication a Defense to DWI?

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Since the start of the new year, I’ve been meaning to return to the court of appeals’ December 2011 opinion in State v. Clowers, __  N.C. App. __ , 720 S.E.2d 430 (2011), to explore the application of the defenses of automatism and involuntary intoxication to charges of impaired driving. Two months later, I’ve finally … Read more

All You Need to Know about Automatism

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The automatism defense is discussed briefly on page 14 of the current version of North Carolina Crimes. Because I’ve had a couple of questions about it, I thought I’d write about it in a little more detail. Automatism is the “absence of consciousness[, which] not only precludes the existence of any specific mental state, but … Read more