If The Keys Are in the Car, You're Likely "In Physical Control" for DUI Laws

State v. Fleck, Minn.Ct.App., 3/24/2009.  At the not unreasonable hour of 11:30 p.m., officers found Mr. Fleck asleep behind the wheel of his car.  The car was lawfully parked in the apartment complex parking lot where Mr. Fleck lived; the keys were on the console between the front bucket seats.  The problem was, Mr. Fleck was "obviously intoxicated."  Police arrested him for first degree driving while impaired.  On testing, his blood alcohol level was 0.18.  A jury convicted him and the court sent him to prison for 48 months.

Here's how the Court of Appeals framed the legal issue:

Is evidence that a person was found alone, intoxicated, and asleep behind the wheel of his operable motor vehicle parked at his residence with the keys on the center console sufficient to support convictions of driving while impaired by reason of being in physical control of a vehicle within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 1(1), (5)?

The short answer is, yes.  The Court distinguishes an earlier "sleeping it off in the car" case on the basis of the whereabouts of the car keys.  In State, City of Falcon Heights v. Pazkerski, 352 N.W.2d 85 (Minn.Ct.App. 1984), Pazderski slept in his car to avoid a fight with his girlfriend.  The keys weren't in the car, at least according to the appellate opinion.  Mr. Fleck's keys, on the other hand, were right there; that he had no intention of driving anywhere was "immaterial."