After a bench trial, the defendant was convicted of driving under the influence of metabolites of a controlled substance (DUI-metabolite). He appealed and argued the DUI statute should be read so as to not criminalize driving with the metabolite of a medically prescribed controlled substance since the legislature did not criminalize driving under the influence of the prescribed controlled substance itself. The Court agreed and vacated the conviction.
Here, authorities found a metabolite of Fentanyl in the defendant’s bloodstream. At the time, he was prescribed Fentanyl. The Court ruled that if an individual has a medical prescription for a controlled substance such as Fentanyl, the individual may lawfully have metabolites produced by the controlled substance in their bloodstream while their body is metabolizing the Fentanyl.
