Missouri v. Mcneely Not Addressed By People v. Cuevas

Orange County DUI lawyers

The recent case of Missouri v. Mcneely has certainly rocked the foundation of the DUI defense world. As an Orange County DUI Lawyer  I have been asked by many people, defendants and outer DUI lawyers, about the ramifications of Mcneely. Missouri v. Mcneely was a case decided in April of this year in which the United States Supreme Court seems to have invalidated the Implied Consent laws of all states by holding that a warrant is required in order to take a blood sample from a person arrested for DUI.

In July of this year, the 1^st District California Court of Appeal decided seven consolidated cases in which all defendants had been arrested for DUI and had elected to take a blood test. However, it doesn’t appear that the  DUI Attorneys in the cases actually challenged the blood tests on the grounds that a warrant was required. Rather, these cases dealt with the issue of whether the blood tests taken after the DUI arrests were shown to have been conducted in a medically approved manner as prescribed by the landmark case of Schmerber v. California.  In all seven cases, the DUI Lawyers brought a suppression motion in the trial court. At the suppression motions, the prosecutors proof that the blood tests were conducted in a medically approved manner consisted of the testimony of the arresting police officer, NOT from the blood tech who actually performed the blood draw.

Amazingly, the 1^st Division actually upheld the denial of the suppression motions, holding that the testimony of the police officers was sufficient to prove that the blood tests were properly conducted, despite no showing of any medical knowledge or training by the police officers. Hopefully, this decision will be revisited.

The bottom line is that we are still waiting for a California decision defining exactly how Missouri v. Mcneely will impact California’s implied consent law. Therefore, I think that DUI Attorneys in Orange County should continue to file suppression motions in all cases where a blood or breath test was taken in compliance to California’s implied consent law. Although the motions are bound to be denied, your DUI lawyer should make sure to preserve your rights by appealing the denial of the suppression motion. That way, when a California decision on the legality of Implied Consent does come down, the DUI conviction may actually be overturned.

If you have been arrested for a DUI or DUI with injury, call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro today at (949) 559-5500 today for a free and confidential consultation.   

DUI Lawyer in Orange County