IF COPS CAN GET A SEARCH WARRANT, THERE IS NO EXIGENCY IN MINNESOTA DUI CASES
A Minnesota Court of Appeal had held that the availability of a telephonic search warrant nullified the state's exigency argument in a DUI case for warrantless blood draw. State v. Shriner, 2007 Minn. App. LEXIS 130 (October 2, 2007)
"The question then becomes whether in this proceeding there are factors, together with the suspected presence of alcohol, that constitute exigent circumstances sufficient to justify the warrantless blood draw. We employ a totality-of-the-circumstances approach. Here, Shriner was arrested at her vehicle one-half mile from Fairview Ridges Hospital. Officer Yakovlev quickly transported Shriner to that hospital and a blood draw was made less than 45 minutes after she was last in the driver's seat of her vehicle. He did not give her the implied-consent advisory or seek her consent to the draw. Officer Yakovlev did not believe that Shriner was injured, did not have responsibility for any other person injured as a result of the accident, and did not have a crime scene that required his attention. He was able to focus on acquiring evidence of Shriner's intoxication. Based on a two-hour rule to establish guilt under Minn. Stat. ยงยง 169A.20, subd. 1(5) (2004), and 609.21, subd. 2b(4) (2004), the question becomes whether a warrant could reasonably have been obtained within a timeframe that would not have compromised the test results."
In Minnesota police officers can go directly to a judge for search warrants, thus bypassing the deputy district attorney. In this case, it was evening. Minnesota law authorizes the use of telephonic warrants..
Note: In San Diego, there is always a deputy district attorney and a judge "on call" all night long to telephonically conference with police officers on warrants. Given this fact, San Diego DUI lawyers should always attack a search in DUI cases where officers force their way into a suspect's home claiming "exigency." California DUI lawyers should check their local procedures to see if they can use the theory in this cse to challenge exigency searches.
