A Taiwan High Court retrial is now hanging on whether a driver high on "zombie" vape pods and other drugs counts as dangerous driving — a painful setback for the widow of the officer he killed.

• Huang Kuo-wei admitted the facts of the crash but his lawyers say he did not commit the crime of endangering public traffic safety.
• The defense argues the roads were nearly empty after midnight and he was not racing or weaving, so the whole hour of driving should not be judged as dangerous.
• Prosecutors and the widow's lawyer counter that he drove through city streets, ran red lights, drove the wrong way, and nearly hit people and cars several times before the fatal crash.
• The officer's widow says her children still ask when their father is coming home, and she keeps appearing in court to push Taiwan to take drugged driving seriously.
• The case has already gone through a citizen-judge trial and three levels of appeal; the family wants the original 18-and-a-half-year sentence kept.

Outlook: Both sides must file detailed timelines of the driving by late September, with arguments set for October 1 and the court aiming to close the case and set a verdict date that day.