A Cape Girardeau drunk driving case is going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court will decide if police can give a blood test without a warrant.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol officer took Tyler McNeely to a Cape Girardeau hospital for blood tests after he failed field sobriety tests but refused the breathalyzer.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri represents McNeely. Legal director Tony Rothert says the officer infringed upon McNeely’s fourth amendment protection from unreasonable search by drawing his blood without a warrant.
“Sticking a needle in someone’s arm to take out blood is intrusive. So that is more of an invasion and has been thought, to now anyhow, to require a warrant," says Rothert.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in McNeely’s favor. Rothert says the U-S Supreme Court will take up the case because states have ruled differently on the warrant requirement.
Oral arguments will likely take place early next year.