At least Illinois had to have warrants for their No Refusal Weekend, even though those warrants were already made up. Minnesota has decided that warrants aren’t needed at all:
“In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court said that the “rapid, natural dissipation of alcohol in the blood creates … a circumstance [requiring immediate attention] that will justify police taking a warrantless, nonconsensual blood draw from a defendant” provided the officer has probable cause to believe that the defendant has committed criminal vehicular homicide or operation.”
The police are very happy with this decision since it:
“…will keep us from having to go through what we sort of felt were unnecessary hoops…”
The head of police feels that following the Constitution is unnecessary-that is scary. Not to mention that the alcohol dissipating too quickly in the blood is bunk. Remember all those health classes that told you it took hours for alcohol to leave the bloodstream?
And who is this law really for? The officer involved in the case used to make this new law even stated in court :
“… that he had no fear that evidence would be destroyed by dissipation of alcohol,…”
This law is not for those folks that are really drunk-this law is for the people who only had one or two drinks. And as the article concludes:
“The majority today has created a new rule of law that erodes the rights of the citizens of Minnesota to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures,” Meyer wrote.”
This case is important because it sets precedent to extend the search and seizure of everyone and everything for any supposed infraction. I know the court says officers have to prove why they didn’t get a warrant, but these are the same officers that think the Constitution is unnecessary. They can come up with any reason and the court will back them up.
Technorati Tags: warrants, constitution, civil liberties, freedom, tyranny, search and seizure
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