DUI and DWI Defense Attorneys everywhere are going to be scrambling for new defendants over the news: in what prove the best, new defense for refusal to provide police a breathalyzer sample, a Canadian woman uses a “Botox Defense” to have influence charges thrown out of Court.
The “Botox Defense” may turn those frown lines upside down for defendants: Paddi Anne Moore, was pulled over by a police officer for suspicion of Driving Under the Influence (DUI/DWI), telling officers at the time that she just couldn’t blow into the breathalyzer instrument provided.
After the police officer says he gave the Canadian woman four chances to blow into the breathalyzer device, the 51-year-old Moore was then legally charged with refusing to provide law enforcement a breath sample after being pulled over for suspicion of Driving Under the Influence.
Moore admits to some drinks that evening she was stopped--however actually proving any intoxication level, while the woman was actually driving or operating the vehicle, is well, questionable. Prosecutors haven’t been able to make their DUI case against the Canadian. Police don’t have any real proof as to the woman’s level of sobriety, due to the fact that no breathalyzer sample was ever taken at the scene of the vehicle stop. The woman claims that it isn’t a case of her refusing to provide officers a breathalyzer sample—she says she physically could not comply with the state trooper’s orders of blowing into the device: in what is easily dubbed the “Botox Defense”, Moore claims that recent Botox injections and treatments actually prevented her from being able to pucker her lips and blow into the breathalyzer for any DUI/DWI testing.
The “Botox Defense” seems to be working, at least for Moore: a Vancouver, Canada, judge has thrown DUI/DWI charges pertaining to Moore out of court--after the judge received a letter from a practicing doctor in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, who testifies that he did perform the Botox shots for Moore. The Botox doc claims it’s not uncommon for patients receiving the specific Botox treatments to be unable "to wrap their lips around a straw or wide circumference such as a breathalyzer blow apparatus" for up to six months’ time.
The cop who pulled Moore over for suspicion of DUI/DWI disputes Moore’s story: the officer steadfastly claims, “she [Paddi Anne Moore] made no attempt to blow” into the breathalyzer instrument as the law enforcement officer had instructed her to do.
The downside for DUI/DWI defendants: the most common Botox treatments are around the eyes to treat “crow’s feet”, or injections into the forehead and other areas in order to treat “frown lines”. The more uncommon Botox injections, like those received by Moore, are injected into the muscles around the mouth and most typically used to treat smoker’s lines.
The upside for the Botox industry and doctors: there just may be a new surge in men opting to receive more frequent Botox treatments.