State ex rel. Montgomery v. Shilgevorkyan
Annotate this CaseAfter field sobriety tests revealed that Defendant had Carboxy-Tetrahydrocannobinol (“Carboxy-THC”) in his blood while driving, the State charged Defendant with violating Ariz. Rev. Stat. 28-1381(A)(3), which prohibits driving a vehicle while there is any drug defined in Ariz. Rev. Stat. 13-3401 or its metabolite in the person’s body. The justice court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge, reasoning that, although Carboxy-THC is a marijuana metabolite, the legislature did not intend to include all possible byproducts, particularly those that are inactive and cannot impair the driver. The court of appeals disagreed, holding that section 28-1381(A)(3)’s language prohibiting driving with a proscribed drug or its metabolite included the metabolite Carboxy-THC. The Supreme Court vacated the court of appeals’ opinion and affirmed the judgment of the trial court, holding (1) the “metabolite” reference in section 28-1381(A)(3) is limited to any of a proscribed substance’s metabolites that are capable of causing impairment; and (2) therefore, drivers cannot be convicted of violating section 28-1381(A)(3) based merely on the presence of a non-impairing metabolite, such as Carboxy-THC.
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