Coffee and Creative Lawyers
Coffee Insanity? This may be the latest bizarre but successful defense raised in a criminal case in Washington State. The defendant, Daniel Noble, a 31-year old financial consultant, showed up at a local Starbucks wearing only pajamas and flip-flops, and had no money. But somehow he managed to convince the friendly barista to give him two 16-ounce double shot coffee drinks, and the resulting coffee buzz, according to his defense lawyer, was the “final trigger” leading to a “rare bipolar disorder” that induced Noble to cause a hit and run accident, injuring two college students, before being tasered by police and arrested for vehicular assault, hit-and-run driving and resisting arrest.
Noble subsequently was hospitalized for several months and, after undergoing a series of tests, the caffeine-induced disorder was apparently discovered. His attorney then argued for acquittal by reason of insanity, and, wouldn't you know it, a Superior Court Judge in Washington State granted the motion. You’ll be glad to know that Noble is currently “receiving outpatient treatment under the court’s supervision.”
Before you exclaim “hogwash” or other similarly dismissive language to characterize his lawyer’s creativity and the court's ruling, this isn't the first time a lawyer has raised this defense. Defendants in criminal cases in Florida and Kentucky have raised the “too much caffeine” defense (though without success), even though skeptics (including this writer) claim this belongs in the same category as the “Twinkie defense” and wonder how a judge could ever be led to believe that a couple of coffee drinks could drive someone over the edge. Something else to ponder over the morning cup.....
