Lawyer Implies Coat May Be to Blame for 0.151% BAC

Woman had been chewing on coat before breath test
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 9, 2019 4:15 PM CST
Lawyer Implies Coat May Be to Blame for 0.151% BAC
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / Chalabala)

An attorney for a Pennsylvania woman charged with drunken driving hinted his client's coat-chewing could've thrown off the results of her breath test, the AP reports. The (Bloomsburg) Press Enterprise reports the argument came during a hearing Tuesday for 47-year-old Jana Moschgat. An officer who pulled Moschgat over testified she was nibbling on her coat before he gave her the breath test and that he ordered her to stop. Moschgat's lawyer, Travis Petty, asked the officer if he knew the chemical composition of the coat, noting that certain substances can alter the results of the test.

Moschgat's test showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.151%, nearly twice the legal limit for drivers in Pennsylvania. The officer says Moschgat also smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test. The judge ruled there was enough evidence to send the charges to trial.

(More weird crimes stories.)

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