Happy Independence Day!

Enjoy the freedoms you have that the state will trample on, given the chance!

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http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/co ... ml?sid=101

Holiday DUI suspects risk forced blood test
Court's OK likely if breath exam is refused
Thursday, July 3, 2008 3:27 AM
By Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Suspected drunken drivers won't be able to "just say no" to blood-alcohol tests in Columbus over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Police have set up a "no-refusal weekend," meaning that anyone who refuses to take a breath-analysis test will face a blood test instead, courtesy of two local judges on call to sign warrants.

Officers will take suspects to a local hospital to await the warrant and the blood draw.

Ohio law requires blood to be drawn within three hours of the alleged violation. Without some kind of blood-alcohol reading, the court has only the officer's word that the driver was drunk.

"The ability to refuse being tested is a serious problem in enforcement," said Lt. Edward DeVennish, head of the traffic bureau.

"The objective of the weekend is to get awareness of the problems of drunk driving out there and maybe influence someone who would otherwise drive drunk. We lose too many people to drunk drivers."

The summer holiday weekends of July Fourth, Memorial Day and Labor Day are among the worst for drunken-driving crashes. Last year in Ohio, 10 people died over the Fourth of July holiday, said Sgt. Anne Ralston of the State Highway Patrol. Six of the deaths were alcohol-related.

Sgt. Jeff Sowards, who's in charge of Columbus' push this weekend, said extra officers will be on patrol. Franklin County Municipal Judges Carrie Glaeden and Ted Barrows have volunteered to sign the warrants.

Both signed warrants over Memorial Day weekend, the first time Columbus tried a no-refusal effort. Three warrants forcing people to submit to blood tests were signed that weekend, Sowards said.

Police departments in other cities in Ohio and across the nation have conducted no-refusal weekends.

Carl Booth, coordinator of the Franklin County DUI Task Force, said Columbus' efforts are part of a countywide push to reduce alcohol-related crashes. He said 24 agencies will increase patrols and put in about 600 overtime hours this weekend.

Patrols will start earlier in the day because drunken drivers appear earlier on the Fourth. Normally, 80 percent of drunken-driving arrests are made after midnight and 17 percent between 4 p.m. and midnight. But last year on the Fourth, 45 percent of arrests were in the earlier period and 50 percent after midnight, Booth said

The task force will have a sobriety checkpoint from 9 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday at Norton Road and W. Broad Street in Prairie Township, west of I-270.

Columbus police are encouraging people to call 614-645-4545 if they see a driver who appears to be drunk, or to call 911 if they see a driver seriously endangering others, such as driving the wrong way on a freeway.

I wonder if anyone will be taken in, have their blood drawn, and pass? If so, can they sue?

Why are people allowed to refuse to take breathalyzer tests?

The Constitution sucks! I demand to feel safe.

breathalyzers are not exact.

Who wrote the code on that breathalyzers? Can I see and comb through that source code at trial?

The breathalyzers are a little robot jury. They should be challenged.

Bloodtest are harder to challenge, scientifically.

Now, do you have a right to your own blood? Can it be taken from you by force?

i've heard that if you refuse the breath-analysis test, they take your license for a year instead of six months. sometimes a good lawyer can fix that, but not always.

Because when you buy the vehicle it becomes your property and you shouldn't have to continually prove your innocence every time you start your car. It's practically the same thing as taking a piss test every time you walk into work or like you doing a complete body scan of mr. duffy (sorry) every time he goes out with his friends to make sure he didn't rub against another girl.

It's bullshit and we shouldn't allow it to happen.

Groups like MADD although good at one time have to continually press for increased enforcement in order to justify the money they raise, otherwise they would out of a job.

what is more important, my personal liberty to drive while intoxicated, or the life of someone who i killed because of my liberty?

Corpus delicti

oh the so over looked Common Law of Corpus delicti.

is a term from Western jurisprudence which refers to the principle that it must be proven that a crime has occurred before a person can be convicted of committing the crime.

You must prove damage has been done to a person's property and there must be a victim.


"In every criminal trial, the prosecution must prove the corpus delecti, or the body of the crime itself-i.e., the fact of injury, loss or harm, and the existence of a criminal agency as its cause." People v. Sapp, 73 P.3d 433, 467 (Cal. 2003) [quoting People v. Alvarez, (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1161, 1168-1169, 119 Cal.Rptr.2d 903, 46 P.3d 372.].

So basically if your Government ignores this, they are really screwing you. Just because they want more of your money.

so then, protectors of liberty, how do you propose to *solve* the problem? we already tried prohibition, and i'm guessing you won't go for stricter penalties since that would likely constitute cruel and unusual punishment, even though the current penalties are woefully lacking as a deterrent and easily avoided altogether if you can afford a good lawyer.

This is sweet. I've never punched a cop, before.

but won't the streetcar cut down on drunk driving?


i never said the preventative measure had to assume guilt before an act occurs. why are you strict constructionists all so reactionary?

This story illustrates the absurdity of current laws, and the stats in his video show how the "problem" really isn't that bad.

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/126435.html