Eau
Claire
(WQOW/AP) - A state appeals
court has thrown out an intoxicated driving charge, ruling the specific
chemical the woman "huffed" is not an intoxicant.
Marilyn Torbeck crashed her car into
an Oshkosh
ditch, after authorities found out she had been inhaling chemicals to get high.
A blood test found a chemical
normally found in air spray cans in her systems. She was charged with operating
while intoxicated.
But a judge threw the case out,
saying under state law, that chemical is not considered an intoxicant. A state
appeals court upheld that ruling.
Now, the Eau Claire county district attorney says it
could be up to the state supreme court, or the legislature to decide where to
go with future huffing cases.
"The definition of
controlled substances, as they are now, is very broad, and covers most of those
household chemicals. The facts of any given case may not fit squarely within
the definitions that we presently have, and that's what I think occurred in
this case, so now I think the legislature, if it chooses, can look at this and
decide," says Eau Claire County District Attorney Brian Wright.
There have
been several cases involving huffing in the Chippewa Valley.
The latest was back in January, when a mother was found passed out in the Wal-Mart
bathroom with an aerosol can in her mouth.
She was then picked up for driving under the influence after she passed
out behind the wheel less than two weeks later.
