Drunk driving, or fleeing abuse?

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a woman who was convicted of drunk driving for a second time may not may not avail herself of the state’s “coercion defense,” which would allow her to drive impaired if she reasonably believed it was the only way to escape great bodily harm or death. She argues she was fleeing her abusive husband after a particularly violent attack. The majority agrees that prosecutors were able to show that, by the time she was pulled over, she was no longer acting lawfully under the defense; in effect, she had escaped and continued to drunk drive illegally.