A Taichung court has decided a fatal drug-driving case will be heard by judges alone rather than a citizen jury panel, a ruling framed as sparing the victim's family further trauma.

• A 39-year-old man in a Mercedes hit an 88-year-old woman collecting recyclables, sat still for 19 seconds, then drove forward and ran her over, killing her.
• He had taken a drug-laced coffee packet the night before and was still driving hours later; his urine test came back positive.
• He has admitted everything and already settled and paid compensation to the family, so the court said little is left in dispute.
• Because the case is largely uncontested, the court found the public interest in a citizen judge trial had dropped, and a high-profile public hearing risked re-traumatizing the family.

Outlook: The case now moves through ordinary court procedure, where sentencing is the main open question.