Tag: blood draw
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Appeals court clarifies legal significance of failed blood draws on DUI suspects
Colorado’s second-highest court clarified on Thursday that the inability of medical personnel to successfully draw blood from a suspected drunk driver amounts to an “extraordinary circumstance” excusing law enforcement from completing the blood test. The case out of Gilpin County came to the Court of Appeals in an unusual way. Jurors acquitted Craig Spencer of felony…
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Colorado Supreme Court rules DUI suspects may revoke consent to blood test, requiring warrant
Suspected drunk drivers do have the ability to revoke their consent to a blood or breath test, meaning police will generally need to get a warrant to measure intoxication levels, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has not explicitly held that states cannot legislate consent for warrantless blood draws…
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Colorado justices weigh DUI suspects’ right to refuse blood draw
The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures means law enforcement must obtain a warrant or else rely on a specific exception to the warrant requirement, like the consent of the person being searched, to investigate a crime. But can Colorado law provide blanket consent for police to draw the blood of alleged drunk…