This could be a new line of criminal defense cases with defendants claiming that they were tripping the light fantastic in the expresso lane.
Nobel was charged with two counts of vehicular assault and two counts of hit-and-run after he broke the legs of Hogun Hahm and Neil Waldbjorns.
His attorney, Mark Moorer, insists that “caffeine-induced psychosis” may be to blame for his client’s alleged reckless driving and bizarre behavior.
This new defense of Starbuck psychosis (I like that better) could do for caffeine addicts what the Twinkie defense failed to do for junk food addicts. The question is whether we should have a coffee shop law similar to the dram shop laws holding baristas liable for third-party accidents and not cutting off a clearly over-caffeinated customer.
Moorer stated: “That particular morning he appeared at the Starbucks very early, wearing his pajamas without his cell phone, without anything, and he ordered his usual. The barista there knows him.”
Officers had to use a taser to subdue him.
Noble is a financial specialist in the University of Idaho Trust & Investment Office.