Q: If a police officer arrests me for public intoxication and they know that I drove to the location they arrested me at

A: Yes, circumstantial evidence can be used to support a DUI case, in all states. Here is a portion of my book, for citizens facing DUI-DWI charges:

It is important to note at the outset that in traditional DUI-DWI cases it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the driving occurred "while" the defendant was intoxicated or under the influence of an intoxicant. The fact that the defendant was intoxicated at a later or earlier time does not necessarily prove that he or she was intoxicated when the driving occurred. The issue of "while" is important in cases where the prosecution cannot establish the approximate time of driving as well as in cases where the defendant consumed intoxicants after the completion of the driving but prior to the arrival of the police. Accident cases are prime examples of where this lack of proof commonly occurs.

A typical case involving the issue of "while" is the case where an intoxicated defendant is found alone (usually asleep or unconscious) off the road in his or her vehicle, often following a one-car accident, and there is no warm engine, fresh tire tracks, fluid trail following a front-end collision or any other evidence showing that the vehicle had recently been driven. In such cases it may be necessary for the prosecution to produce independent evidence that the defendant drove the vehicle while in an intoxicated state in order to sustain a conviction. Much, however, depends on the particular DUI-DWI statute. If the statute specifies "actual physical control" as the prohibited vehicular activity, a showing of recent driving by the defendant may not be necessary.

Another typical case in which the issue of "while" is likely to arise is the case where an intoxicated defendant is apprehended by the police a considerable time after the completion of the driving and the defendant has, since the completion of the driving, consumed some alcohol. In cases of this sort it is often difficult for the prosecution to establish the defendant's degree of intoxication at the time of driving. For this defense to be applicable, however, the defendant's evidence of post-driving drinking must be credible. See Section 6.16 for a discussion of post-driving drinking as a defense to a BAC obtained through chemical testing.

In both types of "while" cases discussed above, much depends on the time interval between the completion of driving and the arrival of the police. If a police officer arrives only a few minutes after the completion of driving by the defendant, circumstantial evidence of recent driving can almost always be found and a conviction will usually be sustained. However, if several hours or an indefinite period elapsed between the end of driving and the arrival of a police officer, the prosecution's case will be much weaker.