Judicial Hellholes

New Mexico Courts, especially the Court of Appeals, has consistently held a place of distinction as a Judicial Hellhole. Now everyone knows why:

The ruling Thursday overturned an August 2004 drunken-driving conviction for John Day III, of Ruidoso Downs.

The court said the jury, without expert testimony from both sides, could not rule on whether Day was drunk when he was driving based solely on a blood-alcohol test taken 66 minutes after his arrest.

A defense expert witness told the jury that Day, facing his third DWI charge, reached the 0.08 blood-alcohol content level only after sitting for an hour with a beer in his full stomach.

The important thing here is to note that this was Mr. Day's third DWI charge.