The Daily Democrat reports on a Gilroy man convicted of marijuana DUI charges.
22-year-old Malik Antuan Nelson was convicted by a jury of driving under the influence of marijuana in a construction zone on September 19th.
The charges stem from an incident which led to Nelson’s arrest on October 6, 2017, when a CHP officer who was monitoring a construction zone. The officer saw Nelson driving in the closed off lanes and made a traffic stop.
The officers noticed signs of marijuana intoxication and also conducted field sobriety tests. A subsequent blood test revealed both active and inactive THC metabolites as well as cocaine metabolites in Nelson’s system.
Nelson admitted that the construction zone enhancement charge was true.
Judge David Rosenberg sentenced Nelson to jail time, three years on probation, more than $4,000 in fines. Nelson must also attend a DUI offender course of at least three months.
Although recreational marijuana is legal in California, driving while under the influence of the drug is still considered a DUI. In many cases, a DUI caused by drugs others than alcohol is treated in much the same way as a regular DUI, however, the charges can be made worse if the drug is illegal or if you were found in possession of the illegal substance. It is important that note that while there is a legal threshold for alcohol in a person’s system, there is no such limit for drugs. It is possible to defend a DUI drug case by saying that a person wasn’t impaired by the drug in their system when they were arrested.
