State v. Finch

A late-night liquor thief fled in a car driven by Finch. Alerted by dispatch, a deputy stopped the car within minutes. Finch got out, stumbled, and nearly fell, but the deputy caught him. As a second officer later testified, Finch’s speech was “slurred, sometimes incoherent, mumbling”; his eyes were “bloodshot, watery, glassy; typical of an under-the-influence person”; and his balance “was very uncertain. I remember he almost fell down whenever I came in contact with him, and I had to catch him.”

Finch had not been drinking, but admitted his recent use of hydrocodone and marijuana. Subsequent…