4.26.2013

A Law At Work




Just came across a fairly recent court opinion.

Facts: A guy is stopped for a traffic violation and then arrested for DWI.  He is offered a chance to provide a sample of his breath and he refuses. Texas law allows for the cop to take a sample of his blood without a warrant*  if "at the time of the arrest, the officer possesses or receives reliable information from a credible source" that the person has twice been convicted for DWI.  The deputy contacts dispatch who advises him that the Texas criminal database ("TCIC") indicates the person arrested has twice been convicted for DWI. The officer then takes the guy to the hospital and has a nurse draw the defendant's  blood. A later analysis reveals it has an alcohol concentration of greater than .08.

One problem: The TCIC database was wrong. He didn't have two prior convictions. So the defendant asks the judge to throw out (suppress) the blood results because they were taken in violation of the law. That is, a warrant should have been obtained.

"Oh, no" says the State! TCIC is reliable. Just because there was a screw-up this time doesn't mean that the TCIC database is not a "credible source" and that's all that's required. The trial judge disagreed and threw out the blood results.

The State, with not enough to do, appealed the decision. The appellate court agreed with the government and said the blood results could be used against the defendant (after ruling it was the defendant's burden to prove TCIC is unreliable and not the State's burden to prove it is reliable.)  Welcome to the Continuing Police State.

Query: What's going to happen when a normally reliable dispatcher misreads an accurate TCIC that shows none or only one conviction but tells the officer that the driver has two? Will a court approve a blood draw based upon the use of that misinformation? After all, could a defendant ever prove a dispatcher is not a "credible source" despite that mistake?

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* Yeah, the Supreme Court ruling last week may kill that and other laws unless there are other facts justifying the bypassing of getting a warrant.