Don't Refuse the DUI Blood Test (or the Breathalyzer)
The scenario plays out time and time again every weekend across Pennsylvania: the police pull over a driver, have the driver conduct some field sobriety tests and then blow into a hand-held breathalyzer. When all this has been completed, the police officer requests that the driver submit to a blood test at a local hospital to determine his blood-alcohol level. The driver freezes and thinks to himself, "Should I co-operate? They just told me I blew above the legal limit- why should I agree to give the police even more evidence against me? What will happen if I refuse?"
Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania courts have ruled that you don't have the right to talk to attorney before deciding whether or not to consent to the DUI blood test. (Although the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently agreed to consider whether or not you should have that right.) So let me offer some advice now for you to file away for that difficult moment: CONSENT TO THE BLOOD TEST. DON'T REFUSE.
If you refuse to take the blood test, you will lose your license for one year. Period. End of story.
Under Pennsylvania law, when each of us accepts our drivers license from the Commonwealth, we are consenting to a blood test requested by a police officer who believes we have been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. We have the right to withdraw that consent, and to refuse that test, but then PennDOT can simply take back the driver's license it issued to us based on our promised consent. This is not a criminal punishment, but merely a civil action. You are entitled to a hearing in front of a judge, but the grounds on which the judge can deny PennDOT's request to suspend your license are extremely narrow.
On the other hand, if you agree to the blood test, then your license will not be suspended until after you are convicted in a criminal hearing. It is possible to get the results of the blood test thrown out of court if the police did not follow the proper procedures, regardless of how high the blood test results are. Thus you are much, much better off consenting to a DUI blood test. (This same analysis applies if the police request that you to submit to a sophisticated breathalyzer test- these machines are carefully calibrated, and must be operated by trained technicians, and are very different from the hand-held devices police in the field use.)
The truth is that the results of the hand-held breathalyzer are not admissible evidence in court, but if you refuse to give the police evidence that can stand up in court- blood tests or sophisticated breathalyzers- you will lose your license automatically for one year. Consent to the tests, and keep your license while your lawyer fights against your criminal conviction.
