Legal Interpretation At The Center Of Missouri DUI Debate

Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, and the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services have teamed up to provide Missouri police officers and state prosecutors better ways in which to arrest and prosecute drunk driving cases. The workshop entitled "Guarding America's Roadways" is being held in locations across the state of Missouri as way to familiarize law enforcement on recent changes in Missouri state law regarding drunk driving. A debate over the interpretation of one of the new laws, and the result it could have on the legal rights of Missouri drivers is overshadowing the progress the program's sponsors had intended to showcase.

Earlier in the year, Missouri voted for and approved a new law who's aim was to "steer first-time offenders toward alcohol treatment programs instead of prison and to ensure that repeat offenders are punished severely." While the law was being drafted, some parties pushed for the inclusion of a provision that would have allowed local law enforcement to draw blood samples from suspected drunk drivers without a warrant. Conversely, that condition was not part of the law that was eventually approved.

The law that did pass happened to contain an elimination of the exclusion that had in past had prohibited state police officers from drawing blood (for the purposes of testing) from suspects who refused. It is the belief of at least one Kansas City personal injury lawyer that the origination of confusion over the new law is previous Supreme Court rulings that support the drawing of blood after refusal and without a warrant.

When you start speaking with some of the prosecutors involved in the summit, you get a whole new batch of reasons. In a controversial interpretation of the new law and past Supreme Court decisions, Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson says that, "There is a good number of people that believe that as of today ... upon the arrest of someone for driving while intoxicated or for drugs, you have the authority under the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to take that person and have a blood sample drawn — even if they refuse."

If this is the case, why did Missouri feel the need to change their law, asks a Kansas City personal injury lawyer. Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson has an answer for that one as well. "Many of us believe that the legislature did that for a reason, and that reason was to allow the warrantless drawing of blood from a person that you've arrested for driving while drugged or intoxicated," Richardson said.

More surprising is his reasoning for why blood tests are needed now more than ever when seeking a drunk driving conviction. "{TV shows} convince everyone that we're always gonna have scientific evidence in every single criminal case we prosecute, which is largely untrue," claims Richardson. "So they're gonna compare you to that officer on the screen, who's actually an actor."

Regardless of where you stand on the warrantless blood testing debate, this summit was put on with the good intentions of saving lives in Missouri and heavily dissuading repeat offenders according to a Kansas City Personal Injury attorney who was in attendance. "We have children," Beverage Distributor Joe Scheppers said. "We have relatives and loved ones out on the roads. Nobody wants to share the roads with inebriated, drunk drivers. It's not something anyone wants to be part of."