A Lititz man will not get relief from a trial conviction of driving while intoxicated last year in a Warwick Township shopping center parking lot.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that the Shoppes at Kissel Village parking lot is a trafficway as defined in the state Motor Vehicle Code, which governs DUI offenses.

For that reason, the state court found evidence at trial was sufficient to support the conviction of Charles T. Anton.

Anton, 40, argued on appeal that the conviction should be tossed because the offense happened in a parking lot.

Assistant District Attorney Gregory Seiders, who won the trial conviction, countered that the lot was open to the public/shoppers and is accessible from Lititz Pike.

Prior appellate rulings indicate a parking lot accessible to the public, even if posted with parking restrictions, are "trafficways," per the DUI statute.

A shopping center parking lot with no restrictions on parkers is “clearly” a trafficway, ADA Seiders wrote in his filing.

The state appellate court, in a nine-page opinion, agreed with that definition of “trafficway.”

Northern Lancaster County Regional police filed charges in Anton’s case. Anton was sentenced to 3 days to 6 months in prison.

He drove into a woman's vehicle in the lot, then approached her, offering expired concert tickets.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright