Jury acquits lawn tractor driver of DUI
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Herald Staff - Published: February 10, 2007
A Hydeville man was acquitted Thursday of charges he drove drunk on a riding lawnmower — although one state official maintains the DUI law applies to such vehicles.
A jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding Raymond M. Jensen, 48, innocent of a single felony count of DUI.
Jensen was arrested in July by police who said they saw him driving a 1968 Cub Cadet lawnmower on Blissville Road in Castleton. Court records said his blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.16 — twice the legal driving limit in Vermont.
Jensen, who has three previous DUI convictions, allegedly told police he did not think he had done anything wrong.
The case against Jensen appeared to turn a couple of key questions: Is a riding lawnmower considered a "vehicle" under state law, or is it a "tractor"? And is it against the law to drive a tractor along the highway while drunk?
Jurors seemed to agree the questions were vital because the only request they made during deliberations was to have the legal definition of "vehicle" and "tractor" reread to them.
In his instructions to the jury, the judge said Vermont law does not consider the following to be motor vehicles: farm tractors, vehicles running on rails, highway building equipment, snowmobiles, tracked vehicles and personal assisted mobility devices.
Tractors, the judge's instructions said, are "a traveling power plant or self-propelled device which functions as part of crop production, harvesting, feeding or livestock management or used for drawing a farm trailer," or "designed to perform single-purpose functions, such as land preparation, crop protection or harvesting."
That would suggest a tractor is not a motor vehicle, and therefore not subject to prohibitions against driving a motor vehicle while drunk.
Late Friday afternoon, however, Assistant Attorney General John Treadwell said he'd located a section of state motor vehicle law that says tractor operators are subject to the same rules as motor vehicle operators, with one exception. The exception: a tractor operator is not considered a motor vehicle operator when driving "to and from different parts of the farm."
That would mean the driver of a tractor not specifically engaged in an agricultural task is subject to the provisions of state motor vehicle law — including the drunken driving laws.
"One would hope there is a prohibition on that at some point," Treadwell said.
Court records indicate Jensen told the arresting officer he was driving the Cub Cadet from his home on Route 4A to a house on Blissville Road.
Rutland County State's Attorney James Mongeon was unavailable Friday and other attorneys in his office declined to talk about the case, referring questions to the state attorney general's office.
Treadwell said he recalled a case in Orange County involving a person accused of driving a tractor while under the influence of alcohol. "It would have been some time ago," he said.
An administrative secretary at the Orange County States Attorney's Office said there was such a case a few years ago, but none of the attorneys who remembered it were available for comment.
Meanwhile, Jensen is still facing two misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident — driving with a suspended license and violating his conditions of release. Prosecutor John Zaikowski declined to comment on whether he would continue to pursue those charges.
Contact Gordon Dritschilo at gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com.
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