A UNC School of Government Blog
The court of appeals ruled this week in State v. Shockley that alcohol concentration readings from two of four attempted breath samples collected within 18 minutes of one another met the “consecutively administered tests” requirement for admissibility of a chemical analysis pursuant to former G.S. 20-139.1(b3). (As amended in 2006, the provision now requires “at … Read more
Update: Check out this post about a recent court of appeals case in this area. Original post: Most DWI cases involve breath tests for alcohol. But there are circumstances in which blood tests are administered. Most often, this happens when the defendant is injured in an accident and so cannot take a breath test. It … Read more
Among the most recent batch of opinions issued by the Court of Appeals was State v. Tellez, in which the court upheld the defendant’s conviction of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of felonious hit and run arising from a fatal car crash. Here are the facts: Defendant went to a party in … Read more
I first encountered North Carolina’s impaired driving sentencing scheme several years ago when I worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of North Carolina. I represented defendants charged under the Assimilative Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 13, with committing violations of assimilated state offenses on a certain federal enclave in Fayetteville. … Read more
The New York Times published this editorial last week advocating that all people convicted of impaired driving – including first-time offenders – be required to install ignition interlocks in their vehicles. The editorial was prompted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signing of legislation imposing such a requirement for several California counties. Ignition interlock is a … Read more
My colleague Shea Denning, a frequent contributor to this blog in the area of motor vehicle law, has put together the ultimate authority on all things related to State v. Knoll, 322 N.C. 535 (1988). Her paper is a must-read for officers, magistrates, jailers, and lawyers on both sides of DWI cases. It discusses Knoll … Read more
The Associated Press just published this story about a federal program in Idaho and Texas in which officers are trained to draw blood from people suspected of impaired driving. The notion is that blood draws counter the evidence lost as a result of breath test refusals, thereby resulting in fewer trials, more convictions and greater … Read more
If a 0.15 alcohol concentration is not admitted at trial or sentencing, does it count for limited privilege purposes? I discussed in an earlier post circumstances in which the Confrontation Clause may bar the admission at a sentencing hearing in an impaired driving case of a chemical analysis offered to prove an aggravating factor based … Read more
I’ve been asked more than once about whether the odor of alcohol combined with a positive reading on a portable breath alcohol screening test device, such as an ALCO-SENSOR, without more, constitutes probable cause to believe that a defendant has committed the offense of impaired driving. My answer? No. My reasoning? First, you can’t tell … Read more
Donna Defendant’s license was revoked on May 1, 2007 upon her conviction of driving after consuming in violation of G.S. 20-13.2. On January 15, 2008, Donna Defendant was charged with impaired driving and driving with a revoked license. Donna Defendant is convicted of both offenses in district court. At the sentencing hearing, the district court … Read more