Hours before the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments as to whether refusing to submit to blood-alcohol testing could be criminally prosecuted (see my post yesterday, Supreme Court Dubious of Making Refusal to Give Blood Sample a Crime), the Idaho Supreme Court handed down the following decision:
Idaho Supreme Court Scales Back DUI Law
Boise, ID. April 20 — The Idaho Supreme Court earlier this month rejected the police practice of forcibly drawing blood from motorists suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). In a 4 to 1 decision, the justices agreed that a local sheriff’s deputy should not have forced a blood test on Brant Lee Eversole after his April 16, 2011 arrest….
Eversole was convicted, but he appealed, winning last year before the state Court of Appeals. Then it was the prosecutors who appealed, asking the high court justices to re-instate the ability of police to draw blood from motorists by force. They cited Idaho’s implied consent law, which states that all motorists agree to be tested in the event that they are pulled over and accused of drunk driving.
The high court refused to accept this interpretation, insisting that the Fourth Amendment requires the use of a warrant for such a search…
Another state court rejecting forced blood draws and/or criminalizing refusal to consent. Is our justice system finally beginning to back off of "The DUI Exception to the Constitution"?
(Thanks to Joe.)
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