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Quinton Lucas

Update at 12:18 p.m. Thursday

A judge has dismissed a DUI charge against a University of Kansas law instructor who’s now one of two finalists in the race to become mayor of Kansas City, Mo.

Quinton D. Lucas, 34, of Kansas City, announced the dismissal Thursday in a news release.

Citing insufficient evidence, Lawrence Municipal Court Judge Scott Miller and a city prosecutor agreed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled, according to a Lawrence Municipal Court document obtained by the Journal-World.

Lucas has maintained since his arrest in the case that he made the right choice by not driving after drinking in downtown Lawrence, though he did get into his vehicle.

“It is a fair result and one that we expected, and I am proud that I made the responsible choice not to drive that night,” Lucas said in his news release.

Lucas was arrested in the early morning hours of Oct. 19, 2018, in the 100 block of East Eighth Street.

Lawrence police were initially dispatched to a report of an “unconscious subject” in a vehicle parked just east of Massachusetts Street and, after investigating, arrested the driver, police said at the time.

After posting bond, Lucas told the Journal-World the following morning that he had been drinking, decided he shouldn’t drive home to Kansas City and “dozed off” in his car. He said he never moved the vehicle from its parking spot on the street.

Kansas state law defines DUI as “operating or attempting to operate” any vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or higher, or doing so under the influence of alcohol or drugs “to a degree that renders the person incapable of safely driving.”

Last week, following a primary election in Kansas City, Lucas became one of two candidates for mayor to advance to the general election.

Lucas is a lecturer at the KU School of Law, where he previously was an associate professor. Lucas scaled back his responsibilities at KU after being elected to the Kansas City Council in 2015, representing Kansas City’s 3rd District at-large.

Lucas included a political talking point on the criminal justice system in his news release on Thursday and said he’d made a $1,000 donation to Legal Aid.

“This process has continued to make clear that access to justice is often out of reach for many in our society,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with the time and resources to have the legal system function as it is intended. Too few in our society have that opportunity.”