United States Supreme Court decisions sometimes have a greater impact on daily life than citizens may realize. On June 23, 2016, the decision Birchfield v. North Dakota[1] changed the procedure on how law enforcement is supposed to request a blood draw from those suspected of committing a crime such as driving under the influence. The key phrase here is that it changed how law enforcement is “supposed to” handle drawing blood. As a recent news story from the Washington Post ... Read More »
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Will .05% Become the New National Legal Limit?
On March 8, 2017, Utah lawmakers passed legislation to lower the legal limit for a driver’s blood alcohol level to 0.05%.[1] On March 23, 2017, Utah’s governor Gary Herbert signed the bill into law, making Utah’s DUI threshold the lowest in the nation. The lowered blood alcohol limit will take effect in the state on December 30, 2018—just before New Year’s Eve.[2] This is a distinct and separate law from Driving While Impaired or Driving Under the Influence. Accordingly, even if the ... Read More »
DUI Hard-Charger Falls on Hard Times
According to reports from various news outlets, including ABC and Fox News, several hundred DUI arrests in Utah are now in question following a lawsuit filed last month. The two plaintiffs, Thomas Romero and Julie Tapia, filed their complaint in the U. S. District Court in Utah, alleging civil rights violations by former Utah State Trooper Lisa Steed. Romero alleges that Steed arrested him for DUI when his BAC was 0.00; Tapia similarly claims that Steed arrested her for DUI ... Read More »