Woman had right to be drunk on her front steps -Iowa Supreme Court

(Reuters) - An Iowa woman should not have been charged with public intoxication for standing drunk on her own front steps after calling authorities for help following a domestic altercation, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

Patience Paye was arrested in June 2013 after stepping out of her house to talk with a police officer, while her alleged attacker told another officer they frequently fought and he had refused to give her car keys because she was drunk and did not have a driver's license, the court's opinion said.

Paye twice failed breathalyzer tests, recording a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit for driving, and was arrested for public intoxication, a misdemeanor.

Paye argued that her front steps were not a public space under Iowa law, but was convicted in a bench trial and raised the same issue on appeal. The state said any modicum of public access would make a place public under Iowa law.

Justice Daryl Hecht said the Supreme Court did not believe state lawmakers intended Iowa law to be so heavy-handed.

"If the front stairs of a single-family residence are always a public place, it would be a crime to sit there calmly on a breezy summer day and sip a mojito, celebrate a professional achievement with a mixed drink of choice, or even baste meat on the grill with a bourbon-infused barbeque sauce — unless one first obtained a liquor license," Hecht wrote.

By that standard, an intoxicated person could be arrested and convicted for walking up the stairs of their own house after securing a ride home from a sober designated driver, he said.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Sandra Maler)