Unless he was actually caught DRIVING, he shouldn’t be charged for DUI or fined. Even if the motor was running (who knows, he might not have wanted to freeze to death).

Charging people who sleep in their cars is just dirty ball. Yeah, not doing so might cause a few drunks to get away, but I’d rather err on the side of letting the guilty walk than causing trouble for the innocent.

Best outcome here would be a jury trial and full-on nullification.

As an aside: let’s say one does need to sleep it off in the car. Would cutting the ignition leads be enough to make the car legally inoperable? Assuming no auto part stores are open till the next morning.