Last Thursday New Orleans Police found a 42-year old man slumped over his steering wheel at the 12000 block of North Interstate 10 Service Road in New Orleans East. Officers discovered Iben Oneal in possession of 83 individually bags of brown powder-like substance, a clear plastic bag with a brown substance, two plastic bags with a white powder-like substance, a variety of narcotics, and a Glock 32 handgun. Oneal was originally scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge at 3pm on Thursday but was unable to appear because he was “in detox,” so he appeared on Friday morning in front of Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell. Oneal faces charges of carrying a weapon with controlled dangerous substances, possession of firearm by a felon, possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of cocaine, and driving with a suspended license. In 2010 he was convicted with intent to distribute heroin and sentenced to 15 years with at least five of the years with the possibility of parole or suspension. Oftentimes we hear about drunk driving incidents in the news, but drugged driving is also an extremely serious offense. While Mr. Oneal faces a number of potential convictions, we wanted to use his case as a reminder that it’s a crime in Louisiana to drive under the influence of drugs. There exists no blood testing standard for drugs, meaning that there is no fixed amount of drugs within the system that determines conviction. The prosecutor has discretion to establish whether the driver is impaired or not. According to state law, a driver can be convicted of driving under the influence of any controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedule I, II, III, IV, or V or the operator is under the influence of a combination of alcohol and one or more drugs which are not controlled dangerous substances and which are legally obtainable with or without a prescription. If you’ve been convicted of a drugged driving offense, the defense team at Bloom Legal is here to help. You can contact us today at 504-599-9997.
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