Recent U.S. Supreme Court Case Has Impact on Tennessee DUI Law

If you’ve been recently arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) in Tennessee, your case may be helped by a decision of United States Supreme Court rendered last month on April 17. The case of Missouri v. McNeely is likely to have a large impact on DUI cases in Tennessee and other states.

In McNeely, the Supreme Court held that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute exigent circumstances in every drunk driving investigation sufficient to justify conducting a blood test without a warrant. The Court recognized that a blood draw is a “search” and police must therefore get a warrant unless the defendant consents or there is some true emergency. The court recognized that when police officers can reasonably obtain a warrant, they should do so, but in some circumstances, obtaining a warrant will be impracticable such that dissipation of the alcohol from the bloodstream will support an exigency justifying a warrantless blood draw. The court concluded by recognizing that the police must determine exigency on a case-by-case basis by looking at the totality of the circumstances before taking a non-consensual blood sample to test a driver’s blood alcohol level.

It’s important to note that Tennessee courts and other state courts are bound by this decision. In plain terms, the decision means that if the police ask you for a blood test to determine the presence of alcohol in your bloodstream and you refuse, the police must obtain a search warrant to obtain the blood test, absent some exigent circumstances. If the police do obtain a blood sample over a suspect’s objection, without a search warrant, and without exigent circumstances, a court may determine that the blood test results are inadmissible to prove the suspect’s guilt.

The issues can be very complicated, and the courts are still sorting out the implications of the McNeely decision. If you have been charged with DUI, it’s important to seek out experienced DUI counsel to help you understand and protect your rights.