In Tennessee, law enforcement has the legal authority to set up sobriety checkpoints. These are blocked areas of the road where every driver, or every few drivers, is stopped so officers can try to detect if the driver is intoxicated. If you are pulled over at a DUI...
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Breath Test Refusal/Implied Consent
State court finds Fourth Amendment protects unconscious drivers
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, when a drunk driving suspect becomes unconscious, it creates "exigent circumstances" that make it unnecessary for the police to obtain a warrant for a blood test. This was after having found in a previous case that the...
Can you challenge a high breathalyzer reading?
Yes, under the right circumstances. Breath testing machines are not magic. They can be broken, miscalibrated or operated incorrectly. If you think your breathalyzer test was unduly high, you should bring your concerns to an experienced DUI defense lawyer. Late last...
Soon all new cars could come with breathalyzers
If you're convicted of driving drunk in Tennessee, the court is likely to order you to install an ignition interlock device (IID) on your car. Much like a roadside breathalyzer test, an IID requires you to breathe into the device to get a reading on how much alcohol...
SCOTUS: Warrant not needed for blood draw on unconscious driver
In the 2013 case of Missouri v. McNeely, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that subjecting someone to a blood test, which involves a needle stick, is much more intrusive than subjecting them to a breath or urine test. Therefore, it is a more serious intrusion into the...
Potentially faulty blood test vials could jeopardize DUI cases
At least 7,800 DUI and other cases involving blood tests could be in jeopardy in Houston alone after a recall of blood testing vials. The Houston Forensic Science Center announced recently that a small portion of a lot of 240,000 vials were manufactured without a...
In the near future, cars may not allow drunk or dangerous driving
An array of cameras and sensors in upcoming Volvo vehicles could allow the cars to detect drivers who are intoxicated or who seem to be driving erratically or distracted. If bad driving is detected, the vehicle could take action by slowing down, contact an assistance...
Does breath test refusal use violate self-incrimination clause?
The Supreme Court of Georgia has just made an interesting ruling in the area of DUI. When someone refuses to take a preliminary breath test offered by police, that refusal cannot be used against them in the DUI trial. The justices reasoned that using a refusal against...
Can the keto diet trick a breathalyzer into a false positive?
A DUI case in Texas was recently dismissed. The defendant performed well on a field sobriety test, but the police breathalyzer pegged him at well above the limit. According to his defense attorney, the reason was completely innocent: he was on the keto diet, and it...
Can the police perform a blood test on an unconscious driver?
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about the constitutionality of Wisconsin's implied consent law, which is somewhat similar to that of Tennessee and many other states.In both Wisconsin and Tennessee, drivers are deemed, by virtue of driving on the...