Alexandria DUI Case Headed to the Supreme Court

A man convicted of drunken driving in Alexandria in 2009 is taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to The Washington Times.

Jean Paul Enriquez is challenging a March ruling from Virginia’s highest court that someone drunk at the wheel of a car parked on a public road with a key in the ignition is now automatically guilty of drunken driving.

Enriquez’s attorneys are arguing that the Virginia Supreme Court cannot retroactively criminalize an action without fair warning and that the ruling violates Enriquez’s right to due process.

“How can they make the law for my guy when it wasn’t the law when my guy committed the act?” said Alberto Salvado, an attorney for Enriquez. “If the Supreme Court doesn’t take this writ, then out there is a case that contradicts a huge purpose of our legal system, which is, hey, you live in a society, you conform to the laws, and they’re not going to arbitrarily change.”

The Enriquez case is linked to a 1992 decision from the state Supreme Court that reversed a DUI conviction of a man found behind the wheel of a parked vehicle with the engine turned off. The arresting officer in the 1992 incident could not remember if the car was turned on or off. 

The Alexandria Police officer who made the 2009 arrest of Enriquez said he could not remember if the car was on or off, but recalled hearing the radio playing when he approached the car where Enriquez was sleeping.