Quote:
Originally Posted by GlassHalfFull
He was taken to the hospital to have his blood drawn.
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I sort of took that for granted in that there is this little Texas Act on the books that I was made aware of while taking care of a victim of this type of situation.
Quote:
Warrantless Blood Draws
Should the DPD receive authorization to begin a mandatory blood draw program for all drivers, it would be an extension of the rights police officers already have in Texas to take blood from DWI suspects.
Last September, the Texas legislature passed the Nicole "Lilly" Lalime Act, which permits the police to take mandatory blood draws without a warrant in limited situations. These situations currently include:
When a person is arrested for a felony DWI, such as driving while intoxicated with a child passenger, intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter
When a person has two or more previous DWI convictions
When a person has one or more previous felony DWI convictions
When a person is involved in an accident causing death or serious injury requiring emergency room treatment to another
Prior to passage of the Act, the police could not take a blood sample without obtaining the driver's consent or a valid warrant from a judge, which gave rise to Dallas' No Refusal program.
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More and more states are actually changing their laws to mandatory blood testing in cases of DUI lieu of having to first request breath testing. The latter, as Cak eluded to has been too easy to "defend" with reasonable doubt, whereas 90% + convictions have been reported with positive blood testing.........juries love this confirmatory evidence.