Originally Posted by frozenchief:
The Supreme Court has ruled that blood draws require a warrant. Most states make refusal to take a breath test equivalent to the DUI itself so even if you have a good defense to the DUI, if you don’t blow, you’re hosed.
The police can call a judge and have a warrant for a blood draw in 2 minutes. It's a fait accompli when a DUI is involved. Just the refusal is an automatic suspension.
When a state grants you a driver's license, all the power is in their hands as they all say the same thing in their law, "it is a privilege, not a right" for them to grant you a drivers license. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
The police can call a judge and have a warrant for a blood draw in 2 minutes. It's a fait accompli when a DUI is involved. Just the refusal is an automatic suspension.
When a state grants you a driver's license, all the power is in their hands as they all say the same thing in their law, "it is a privilege, not a right" for them to grant you a drivers license.
You are correct that police can get a warrant easily.
However, a blood draw is quite legally significant. The law views any intrusion or penetration of a person’s body as a significant violation of a person’s liberty and so blood draws are not part of a routine DUI case. in my experience, and that does NOT include Nebraska, blood draws are done in unusual circumstances. In my state, for example, blood draws are only authorized in cases involving an accident or cases involving serious physical injury/death.
There is nothing about this case that suggests anything unusual that would justify a blood draw. Maybe that is just Nebraska.
The other issue is that a warrant is treated differently than a demand for a breath test. A warrant is a court order. In my experience, if cops get a warrant, that warrant is getting executed. So if someone refuses a blood draw for which the court has issued a search warrant, they are not merely charged with refusal. Instead, they are thrown into the back of a cop car (or ambulance, depending on the circumstances) and taken to the local hospital. There, the suspect is literally strapped to a gurney and blood is forcibly extracted.
Think about cops searching your house. Cops can come and ask you to look around and you can refuse. Fine. They may make you wait outside while they seek a warrant. But the situation is profoundly different if they show up with a warrant. If they get a warrant, that warrant is going to be executed.
Maybe Nebraska law is different but the Supreme Court has said that cops need a warrant to do a blood draw. If cops need a warrant to do a blood draw, I have a hard time seeing how a court would then make a driver’s implied consent include consent to a blood draw. The law is quite clear that if you drive on public roads (or non-public roads in some states), you give your consent to a breath test or maybe a urine test. But stretching those laws to include a blood test would effectively eviscerate the requirement that cops get a warrant.
Again, I do NOT know Nebraska law. Maybe Nebraska law allows blood draws and their particular testing regime has not been challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. But I do not easily square the USSC warrant requirement with a statutory process that yanks driver’s licenses if drivers do not consent to a blood draw. [Reply]
Prayers, growing up can be challenging at times. Hope for the best and expect the worst. I
wish I could turn the clock back on some miscalculations in judgement I’ve had. 30-40 years later and I’m still having to explain Infractions eveytime another clearance comes around. After the investigators get done with me I swear I make Charles Mansion look like a choir boy. I always come out feeling like complete crap. [Reply]
The cop grabbed your registration out of your car and you think that's blasphemy? And of course they were looking for drugs in your wallet, you are out drinking and driving who knows what else you could have been doing. Sounds to me like you had a pretty easy arrest and a very smooth time of it, so feel lucky. And I don't know why you're asking us for a lawyer because Google is pretty good for that. [Reply]
I am hesitant to post anything that looks like help as you were clearly way too drunk to be driving. The fact that you don’t recognize that is a big red flag. I truly hope your dumb ass uses this as a learning experience and figures out what most of us learned in grade school. That is, “ your mom lied, you are NOT special.” So, stop doing dumb things that could impact the lives of others and grow up.
Having said that, it still may make sense to get an attorney involved. There are many reasons but the core reason is that BAC cannot be accurately and reliably measured by breath alone since it is not actually measuring the ethanol level in your breath. Without going into the chemistry involved, it is actually using a pH measure to approximate the level of ethanol. Since this is not a direct measurement, many things can cause in inaccurate reading such as acidic foods, belching, GERD (stomach acid) etc.. A good DUI lawyer and can bring up these arguments and try to negotiate the charges down with the DA.
PS - pro tip - chewing gum does nothing to help. Tums or Rolaids can help if you’re borderline and worried but a much better choice is not to drive when you’ve been drinking. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cooper barrett:
I gave you a plus for dealies, I give you a big BULLSHIT for your comment
yeast can fuck up the breath dealie from starting your car my bad. I knew a person that this was going to be the 5th dui or something and if he failed the interlock he was going to jail for a long time [Reply]
Buzzed driving is drunk driving.
You deserve the DUI if you were even close. You made the choice to have the drinks. You now need to pay all the fines and the rate increase on your insurance.
Hope you learn and don't do it again. [Reply]
