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State v. Cummings2/24/2003
or abilities in such a way as to impair, to any perceptible, appreciable, or noticeable degree, his or her ability to operate a vehicle safely.
The mere fact that a person has taken a drink does not automatically place him under the ban of the statute, unless such drink has some influence upon the person lessening, in some degree, his ability to operate an automobile safely.
The burden is on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's consumption of alcohol impaired, to any perceptible, appreciable, or noticeable degree, the defendant's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. The State need not prove that the defendant actually drove in an unsafe or erratic manner or that the defendant caused an accident. It must prove only a diminished capacity to operate safely.
If the ability of the defendant to drive safely has been lessened to the slightest perceptible, appreciable, or noticeable degree by the use of intoxicating liquor, then the defendant may be deemed to be under the influence. That condition which brings a driver within the scope of driving under the influence is any interference with or lessening of alertness, any weakening or slowing up of the action of the motor nerves, or any interference with the coordination of sensory and motor nerves which may cause sluggishness where quickness of action is required or which may otherwise signal a diminished capacity to operate a vehicle safely. Id. at 328-39, 789 P.2d 1127-28 (emphases added).
2. Pursuant to HRS § 281-1, "'Under the influence of liquor' means that the person concerned has consumed intoxicating liquor sufficient to impair at the particular time under inquiry the person's normal mental faculties or ability to care for oneself and guard against casualty, or sufficient to substantially impair at the time under inquiry that clearness of intellect and control of oneself which the person would otherwise normally possess." Id. (emphasis added).
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