[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Forced blood tests allowed to stand[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wisconsin ruling says Fourth Amendment not violated[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Tuesday, January 18, 2005 Posted: 10:56 AM EST (1556 GMT)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court declined to consider Tuesday whether a police officer may take a blood test from a suspected drunken driver without a warrant.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Justices let stand a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said a forced blood test would not violate the driver's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches, even if the driver already had submitted to a breath test.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The lower court reasoned that police's urgent need to obtain reliable evidence before alcohol dissipates from a driver's bloodstream justified a warrantless blood test.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The case stems from a traffic stop in February 2002. Police stopped Jacob Faust and gave him a preliminary breath test that showed a 0.13 blood alcohol content.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Faust also gave a second breath test at the police department. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]That test showed a blood alcohol content of 0.09, just above the 0.08 limit Faust was to adhere to because he had two prior drunken driving convictions.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Police then took a blood test from Faust at a hospital without his consent. That test showed a 0.10 level.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The trial court granted Faust's motion to suppress the results of the blood test after he argued there was no urgent need to justify the blood draw without a warrant.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But the Wisconsin Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that police had a right since they can't predict whether a breath test will be found reliable in court.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The case is Faust v. Wisconsin, 04-471.[/FONT]