Cops may want you to give up blood: Program for DUI suspects is in effect for holiday weekend

"If you are arrested for DUI and refuse any breath or chemical tests, the state's attorney will obtain a search warrant for that evidence," said Capt. Jerry Culp, commander of Illinois State Police District 11 based in Collinsville.

State troopers will call a shift commander, who will contact an on-call assistant state's attorney. The prosecutor will then arrange for a judge to quickly hear the circumstances of the traffic stop and decide whether to issue a warrant. In Illinois, a driver is considered intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of at least .08 percent.

State police Lt. Steve Waggoner said the enforcement program went into effect at noon Wednesday and will expire at midnight Sunday.

Under Illinois law, any motorist under suspicion of drunken driving who refuses a test faces an automatic driver's license suspension. A first-time offender who refuses will receive a 12-month suspension.

However, what happens in many DUI arrests, especially when a defense lawyer is involved, is that the suspension is dismissed as part of a plea bargain. Such deals are usually easier to obtain if the driver has refused to take the test and all the prosecutor has for evidence is the officer's observations.

Steven H. Fagan, a Des Plaines attorney whose law firm specializes in defending drunken-driving charges, said the law allowing a judge to compel a person to provide a blood sample in a DUI case is the same that allows the collection of such evidence in a rape or murder case.

Fagan said having a prosecutor and judge on standby and obtaining warrants in DUI cases "is not common."

A motorist who resists giving a sample after a warrant is issued can be charged with an additional crime, Fagan said.

"I haven't heard of anyone being strapped down by the police and having blood taken," he said.

But even if a sample is taken and shows that the driver is intoxicated, Fagan said the defense can still challenge the case.

"I can question the search warrant," he said. And having a judge involved in a DUI arrest may sometimes be a good thing.

"The judge becomes the gatekeeper," Fagan said, "as to whether there was enough to justify an arrest."

Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com or 239-2625.

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