What is Pathological Alcohol Intoxication?

In February 2009, Eugene Baum, Jr. and his attorney, John Iaciofano, stood before a judge in Superior Court in Morristown, New Jersey. On trial for two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, Baum had been accused of driving under the influence of alcohol on April 20, 2006, and killing two New Jersey teenagers, 15 year old Mayada Jaffar of Kinnelon, and her 16 year old cousin, Athear Jaffar, of Jefferson. When he was arrested, Eugene Baum, Jr.'s blood alcohol content was a staggering .305, almost four times New Jersey's legal limit of .08.

And yet, almost three years after that fateful day, Baum and his attorney were prepared to pursue a seldom used legal defense to explain Baum's actions and perhaps win him a lighter prison sentence. The two men claimed that Eugene Baum, Jr. suffered from a condition called pathological alcohol intoxication and, therefore, he was not in control of his actions when he killed Mayada and Athear Jaffar.

What is pathological alcohol intoxication?

Most of us know what happens when a person drinks too much alcohol; they get drunk. Most people react predictably to the presence of alcohol in their systems. They may experience a loss of balance, poor judgment and reflexes, drowsiness, dizziness, or euphoria. A drunk person may lose the ability to speak clearly and will slur their words. He or she may become mellow and relaxed, or perhaps the alcohol will act as a social lubricant, causing the person to become more talkative. These are all relatively normal reactions to the excessive consumption of booze.

People who suffer from pathological alcohol intoxication have an extremely negative reaction to alcohol, even if it's just a tiny amount. According to an article by Traci Pedersen for the Web site, Psych Central, some people have a genetic variant in brain receptor molecules that may cause them to react with unusually violent or impulsive behavior when they take a drink. Pathological alcohol intoxication may also be caused by a drug reaction, brain injury, or a medical condition that reacts adversely to the presence of alcohol, compelling a person to temporarily react uncontrollably in a violent or explosive manner when alcohol is present in their system.

True pathological alcohol intoxication is a real, but rare, condition; and though the term is used in medical circles, it seems just as likely to be used in a courtroom as a legal defense. According to the legal Web site, LexisNexis, voluntary intoxication does not excuse a person's criminal conduct and cannot be used as a defense in court. However, if a person can prove that he or she suffers from pathological alcohol intoxication, he or she may be able to prove that their intoxication was involuntary, and therefore whatever crimes they committed while under the influence might be excused.

Of course, in order to successfully use pathological alcohol intoxication as a criminal defense, a person must not have had any reason to believe that he or she would have reacted to alcohol in an unusual way. Or if a person knows ahead of time that alcohol has such a devastating effect on them, he or she would have to prove that their ingestion of alcohol was unintentional or involuntary. Moreover, the defendant would also have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that his or her level of alcohol intoxication was such that the M'Naghten rules of insanity would apply. In other words, the defendant must prove that he or she truly did not know what he or she was doing at the time of the offense and did not know that the action was wrong.

The pathological alcohol intoxication defense did not work for Eugene Baum, Jr.

Eugene Baum, Jr.'s attorney, John Iaciofano, claimed that his client was not "some fool who went out and tied one on". Instead, according to Iaciofano, Baum is a very sick individual who had been hospitalized three times for his alcoholism. It seems to me, however, that if Eugene Baum, Jr. had, in fact, been hospitalized for alcoholism, he should have been well aware that consuming alcoholic beverages has an adverse effect on him. Therefore, he knew ahead of time that he would have a negative reaction to booze.

In January 2010, Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto rejected Eugene Baum, Jr.'s claim of pathological alcohol intoxication because Baum was not able to prove that he didn't know what he was doing on April 20, 2006. I would submit that besides the fact that Baum couldn't prove he was temporarily insane, he knew ahead of time that alcohol would make him behave badly. Therefore, he should have expected that claiming pathological alcohol intoxication was not going to help his case.

While pathological alcohol intoxication is, in fact, a real disorder, it can be extremely difficult to prove one suffers from it, especially when a crime has been committed. Eugene Baum, Jr. has found out from firsthand experience that pathological alcohol intoxication is not the easiest defense to use in court.

Sources

Lockwood, Jim (February 8, 2009) "Defendant in DWI deaths claims 'pathological intoxication'" Retrieved from: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/defendant_in_dwi_deaths_claims.html

Lockwood, Jim (January 19, 2010) "Trial begins for Dover man accused of killing two teens in drunken driving crash" Retrieved from: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/trial_begins_for_dover_man_acc.html

Pedersen, Traci (January 3, 2011) "Genetic Variant + Alcohol May Trigger Violent, Impulsive Behavior" Retrieved from: http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/01/03/genetic-variant-alcohol-may-trigger-impulsive-violent-behavior/22202.html

http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/more-criminal-topics/insanity-defense/the-mnaghten-rule.html

http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/outlines/html/crim/crim14.htm