Houston DWI Law Blog : Houston DWI Lawyer & Attorney : Johnson Johnson & Baer Law Firm : Texas DUI Defense & Criminal Law

Houston Police and other Harris County police agencies used this Memorial Day weekend to once again deprive citizens of the privacy we should all have in our own bodies.  Memorial Day weekend was announced as a "No Refusal Weekend" by authorities.

So what exactly is a "No Refusal Weekend?"  If you read the words, you would think that we as citizens of Harris County do not have the right to refuse to give a breath test or blood test if offered by the police.  This could not be further from the truth - you can always refuse to do any of the tests the police ask us to do.  That includes the right to refuse field sobriety tests, breath tests or blood tests.

That brings us back to the question, what is a "No Refusal Weekend?"  If you refuse to give a breath test or blood test, the police are forbidden from taking your blood at that point without a search warrant.  During the "No Refusal Weekend," the government puts together a team of police officers, medical personnel, district attorney's office representatives, nurses, the "bat van" and Judge(s).  The purpose of putting this "DWI TEAM" together is to make getting a search warrant for your blood easier.  The arresting officer will take you to where the "DWI TEAM" is.  The district attorney's office will help the officer draft a search warrant that is then presented to a "Neutral and Detached" Judge.  The Judge signs the warrant and they strap you down and extract your blood.

By refusing to give your breath or blood, the "DWI TEAM" is forced to jump through a few extra hoops which can sometimes lead to problems for the prosecutors.  Don't let the media / police / MADD / District Attorney's PR campaign go unchecked.  I hope that our citizens actually know the law, not what these PR campaigns want them to know.  If arrested for DWI, you absolutely have the right to refuse a breath or blood test. 

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As I wrote last week, Houston Police officers are being trained to draw blood on those suspected of drunk driving / DWI.  According to an AP report on September, 13 2009, cops are on patrol with tasers, guns and  now syringes.

Police officers are increasingly looking at needles as a new weapon to fight driving while intoxicated cases.  Instead of looking objectively at the results of rediculous balancing tests, the police are now relying on citizens blood to gather evidence.

Again, for the record, this type of search is in my opinion unreasonable and violates the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  We should not allow Houston Police Officers to draw blood fo Houston citizens in a Houston DWI arrest.

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On the eve of our July 4th Independence Day, the Harris County District Attorney's Office has announced another "no refusal" weekend will be in effect.  Understandably, many citizens hear this news and think that it is a great idea to get drunks off the road. However, let's take a closer look at exactly what a "no refusal" weekend really is.

Mandatory blood draws are exactly that - the police now have the ability to literally strap you down and forcibly take blood from a citizen.  I think this is absolutely the type of intrusion into our lives as citizens that should be prohibited by our Constitution.  In fact, the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution says,

the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.

First, a citizen has to be arrested for DWI in order to have a search warrant drawn up to draw the blood from that person.  Let me reiterate, the person is already arrested and in custody for Driving While Intoxicated before the search warrant is obtained.  Obviously, if the person is already in custody and under arrest for DWI, the police have removed that citizen from our streets.  Therefore, no more "drunks" are taken off of the streets as a result of this program.

Additionally, our Constitution is designed to protect all of those accused - both those that are guilty, but also those that are innocent.  We have represented clients that have been accused of drunk driving and had their blood forcibly taken from them that are below the legal limit or have had no alcohol in their system at all.  You can't tell me that strapping an innocent person to a gurney and drawing his blood against his will is not protected by our Constitution. 

Finally, Texas has a specific statute (at least for now) that forbids the Government from this type of intrusion on our lives.  Section 724.013 of the Texas Transportation Code says, "a specimen may not be taken if a person refuses to submit to the taking of a specimen designated by a peace officer."

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