{"id":2221,"date":"2013-01-10T20:08:19","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T03:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alcoholmonitoring.com\/blog\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2021-08-26T12:06:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:06:42","slug":"are-blood-tests-for-duis-reasonable-the-supreme-court-weighs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/are-blood-tests-for-duis-reasonable-the-supreme-court-weighs-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Blood Tests for DUIs Reasonable? The Supreme Court Weighs&#160;In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the case of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/case-files\/cases\/missouri-v-mcneely\/?wpmp_switcher=desktop\">Missouri vs. McNeely<\/a>, which asks if a blood sample can be taken from a suspected drunk driver without their consent or a warrant under the \u201cexigent circumstances\u201d exception to the Fourth Amendment. Lawyers for the state of Missouri think it should be allowed based on the idea that the natural dissipation of alcohol from the body is essentially destruction of evidence, and a delay in being able to obtain a blood sample prevents prosecutors from building a case with the best possible&#160;evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The case arose from the 2010 arrest of Tyler McNeely in Missouri for suspected DWI. McNeely, who had two previous DWI convictions, refused to take a breathalyzer test after failing field sobriety testing and was transported to a local hospital by the arresting officer where blood was drawn without a warrant or McNeely\u2019s consent. The results of McNeely\u2019s blood sample were suppressed (a BAC of 0.154) in McNeely\u2019s trial after his defense lawyers successfully argued a warrant should have been obtained. The Missouri Supreme Court eventually heard the case and affirmed that a warrant was&#160;needed.<\/p>\n<p>In yesterday\u2019s hearings, it appeared the justices questioned how a warrantless blood test is reasonable or needed. Early on, Justice Sotomayor posed the question, \u201cSo how can it be reasonable to forego the Fourth Amendment in a procedure as intrusive as a needle going into someone&#8217;s body?\u201d Justice Kennedy pointed out that half of all states do not allow warrantless blood draws and have streamlined processes in place to quickly allow warrants to be granted. The issue of a rural community\u2019s ability to implement a warrant process as easily as an urban community and if that qualified as an exigent circumstance was also raised, to which Justice Sotomayor asked, \u201cIs reasonableness judged by the people who are the least efficient or most \u201creasonably\u201d&#160;efficient?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Attorney John Koestner, Jr., representing Missouri in this case, argued that although the arresting officer had not encountered trouble in the past obtaining warrants, there was going to be a delay in this particular case, and that \u201cquickly securing blood alcohol evidence is important, because the evidence is being lost at a significant rate with every minute that&#160;passes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Justice Scalia asked Attorney Steven Shapiro, representing McNeely on behalf on the ACLU, if the main advantage for a suspected DWI driver when a warrant is required is a delay that could result in a lower BAC. Shapiro answered that Fourth Amendment protections are strengthened when warrants are required because of the review done by a neutral party prior to the granting of a&#160;warrant.<\/p>\n<p>In 1966 Chief Justice William Brennen wrote a majority opinion for <a href=\"http:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/384\/757\/case.html\">Schmerber v. California<\/a>, which approved a warrantless blood draw in a drunk driving case. Technology, and the ability to streamline virtual warrants may alter this Court\u2019s perspective on&#160;Schmerber.<\/p>\n<p>Lyle Denniston of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2013\/01\/argument-recap-compromise-on-dui-blood-tests\/\">SCOTUSblog<\/a> thinks it is very clear that the Court will require a warrant, at least in the ordinary DUI case. If so, it may turn out to be an example of the current Justices having a more liberal take on the Fourth Amendment than the Warren Court did in&#160;1966.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? Does a state\u2019s interest outweigh the privacy concerns of the individual when it is applied to the prosecution of drunk&#160;driving?<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/11-1425.pdf\">here<\/a> to read the transcript of yesterday\u2019s&#160;hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the case of Missouri vs. McNeely, which asks if a blood sample can be taken from a suspected drunk driver without their consent or a warrant under the \u201cexigent circumstances\u201d exception to the Fourth Amendment. Lawyers for the state of Missouri think it should be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10,11],"tags":[264,296,309,452,603,728],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drunk-driving","category-law-enforcement","category-legislation","tag-dwi-blood-draws","tag-feature","tag-fourth-amendment","tag-mcneely-v-missouri","tag-schmerber-v-california","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are Blood Tests for DUIs Reasonable? 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