Florida DUI Law by Blake Mevis: What Constitutes Driving or Actual Physical Control of a Vehicle

"Although the fact of the inoperativeness of the vehicle is one factor to be considered when deciding whether a person was in actual physical control of the vehicle. The state is not required to prove, as a part of the element of actual physical control, that the vehicle was capable of immediate self-powered mobility."

"This annotation collects and analyzes the cases in which the courts have considered the meaning of the terms "driving," "operating," "being in control of," or similar terms, as used in statutes or ordinances making it a criminal offense to drive, operate, or be in control of a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The annotation involves only those cases in which an issue has been raised concerning what constitutes such acts, rather than merely whether they have been established by the evidence."

§ 403 Requirement of actual physical control
"A person is guilty of the offense of driving under the influence (DUI) if that person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle within this state. Where the evidence is insufficient to prove that the defendant was driving, the State may still make its case by proving that the defendant was in actual physical control of the vehicle. This occurs where the accused is sitting in a motionless vehicle. In such cases, the State must show that the operator was in or on the vehicle and had the capability to operate it. The operator need not be exercising that capability at the time of the offense."

§ 1473 Applicability to private property
"The statutory prohibition against driving while under the influence of alcohol "within this state" includes the conduct of a defendant who operates a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol on private property rather than on a public highway, street, or thoroughfare."

§ 409 Establishment of corpus delicti; evidence
"The State may not rely on the admission of the defendant that the defendant was the driver of the vehicle without first establishing the corpus delicti. A critical element of the corpus delicti of the offense of driving while intoxicated (DUI) is evidence that the defendant was driving at the time the offense was allegedly committed. Thus, the state was required to prove that defendant's blood alcohol level was .08 at the time he was driving, rather than at some point during the night of the accident, to convict defendant in a prosecution for driving under the influence (DUI)."