BehindTheMedspeak: Low Blood Sugar is a Legal Defense

Earlier this week the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that low blood sugar meets the legal definition of "involuntary intoxication."

Dave Rose of KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs wrote on the station's website:

Diabetic Reaction Becomes Legal Defense

Low blood sugar can be used as a defense in court.

The court ruling gives legal standing to something diabetics and medical authorities have known for a long time: that low blood sugar can have serious effects on the way people act.

Diabetic intoxication was a likely factor just last month when Salida police officers shot and killed 60–year–old Kenneth Clark.

His wife called for an ambulance because he seemed to be ill.

But when help arrived, police say, Clark pointed a gun at them.

Exactly when bad or criminal behavior becomes justifiable will always be problematic.

The case on which the Colorado court ruled involved Steve Garcia Jr., who was convicted of second–degree attempted murder and first–degree assault in 1999.

The justices ruled 4–3 that Garcia should have a chance to prove he was involuntarily intoxicated as a result of low blood sugar.

I suppose you could call using low blood sugar to excuse culpability the "Negative Twinkie" defense.

On a related note, the actual case on which were based the superb novel and film "Anatomy of a Murder" rested on a defense of "involuntarily impulse."