Can an Officer Force You to Take a DUI Breathalyzer Test?

 Posted on January 16, 2015 in DUI

Since the beginning of the New Year, law enforcement officers have a new tool to collect evidence against DUI suspects in nearby Lee County. Although Illinois is an implied consent state, which means that drivers gave consent to a chemical DUI test when they signed their drivers’ licenses, motorists can still refuse to take a breath, blood or urine test when asked to do so. In that case, the officer needs a search warrant to perform the test.

Lee County police have now worked out an arrangement with the State’s Attorney’s office to obtain search warrants electronically in as little as 20 to 30 minutes. For now, the new policy applies only to felony DUIs and those with aggravating circumstances, such as minor children in the car or a motor vehicle accident.

In 2014, there were three fatal reckless homicides involving alcohol and drugs in Lee County.

How Long Can You be Detained?

Many courts have wrestled with the question of how long a person can be detained without being arrested. In the case of a chemical test refusal, especially if there were no field sobriety tests conducted, there is little, if any, evidence to believe that a person was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Officers are allowed to detain a person and search for evidence of a crime, but such a detention cannot last forever.

About the only rule is that “the duration of the stop cannot be unreasonably prolonged,” under Fourteenth Amendment due process standards. An “unreasonable” length of time is nearly always a case-by-case determination. An hour delay may be permissible in some circumstances, while the clock may expire in twenty minutes in other cases.

In DUI stops when an officer has requested a search warrant, any wait much longer than 30 minutes is arguably too long. At a hearing, if the defendant argued unreasonable delay and had legal support for the contention, the burden would effectively shift to the prosecutor to provide a good explanation for the prolongation. If the state argued that a technical glitch or communications error caused the delay, would that be sufficient to satisfy a judge? There is really only one way to find out.

Contact an Experienced Criminal Defense Lawyer in Illinois

If you have been charged with a DUI or other crime, you need an aggressive Rolling Meadows DUI defense attorney to stand up for your rights in court. Call the The Law Offices of Matthew R. Gebhardt, P.C. at 773-383-8745 or 847-239-4703 today for a free consultation.