Philadelphia nun fights DUI charge in N.J. court

WASHINGTON TWP., N.J. (WPVI) -- A Philadelphia nun accused of driving drunk is on trial in New Jersey.

Sister Kimberly Miller was arrested after she crashed in to a building in Gloucester County last year.

It happened on November 7, 2015 at 2 o'clock in the morning on the Black Horse Pike in Turnersville. That's where Sister Kim, a nun with the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order and a teacher at Little Flower HS in Hunting Park was stopped for drunk driving.

On Wednesday Sister Kim appeared in Washington Township Municipal Court to face charges of driving under the influence as well as leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident.

Witnesses told police, Sister Kim was driving erratically and pulled into the parking lot of a Meineke auto shop and backed into the front door while turning around, shattering the glass.

Meineke manager Peter DeGeorge says, "The police had come in and said, 'A drunk driver hit your door,' and he had a weird smirk on his face and he was like, 'it was a nun.'"

Sister Kim was administered a breath test that measured her blood alcohol at .16 - twice the legal limit. Those results were thrown out by the judge on Wednesday because the officer did not directly observe the nun for 20 minutes before administering the test as required.

Sister Kim's lawyers are arguing that she was sleep driving, not drunk driving. They say she has mental health and medical issues and was under the influence of the sleep medication Ambien at the time.

Further, they say she has no memory of how she got to New Jersey from an event in Haverford earlier that night and wound up being pulled over in Turnersville.

One of the officers on the scene says Sister Kim told him she had two glasses of wine at a book signing event earlier that night. An open but corked half full bottle of wine was found behind the driver's seat.

In the meantime, the trial is continuing, and Sister Kim is expected to take the stand.