Court Warns Police to Get Warrants for Blood Draws in Utah DUI Cases
The Utah Supreme Court upheld a woman’s automobile homicide conviction in a DUI case from 2001, but warned Utah police about drawing blood without a search warrant. The woman turned her vehicle in front of a school and her passenger died from injuries sustained in the accident. Police reasoned that because the passenger was expected to die from her injuries, they didn’t need a search warrant to draw the driver’s blood.
The Utah Court ruled that circumstances surrounding the accident made it reasonable for the police to draw the woman’s blood without a warrant. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Bates said that Utah drivers are presumed to consent to certain tests - including breath and blood analysis. “But if they refuse, then the Fourth Amendment kicks in,” he said. Police officers can then declare that “exigent circumstances” exist where the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches still allows them to “just take it.”
The Court, in it’s statement, noted that modern technology, including cell phones, and the ability to contact a bench judge at any time greatly improves an officer’s ability to quickly get a warrant.
The woman, most likely, could have been convicted without any BAC evidence. At the time of the blood draw she had a BAC of 0.39 percent, nearly five times the legal limit for DUI in Utah. She pled guilty to third-degree felony automobile homicide and served 14 months in jail.