Second Installment: Suppression of Chemical Analyses in Implied Consent Cases for Statutory Violations

Stan Speedy is charged with impaired driving. He has filed a motion to suppress evidence of blood test results based on a violation of his Fourth Amendment and his statutory rights under Chapter 20. At the suppression hearing, a sheriff’s deputy testifies to the following facts:   At 10 p.m. on the evening of May 1, 2010, I responded to a report of a single-car accident on Highway 411 about 2 miles outside of the Tarheel town limits. Another driver called 911 when he came upon the scene of the accident. By the time I arrived, EMTs had placed defendant on a gurney and were putting him in the back of an ambulance. They took defendant to Tarheel Regional Medical Center. I talked to the driver who had called 911 and I examined the scene. I saw an open bottle of brown liquor on the floorboard of the car. When another deputy arrived on the scene, I left for the hospital. I spoke to Speedy there while he still was strapped to a gurney. He smelled strongly of alcohol. I read Speedy the notice of implied consent rights and placed a copy of the rights on his chest. I told him I was going to charge him with impaired driving. I asked Speedy to let me draw blood and he responded, in pretty slurred speech:  “Whatever.” I asked a nurse to withdraw Speedy’s blood. She did so, and I sent it off to the SBI the next day. The next morning [...]