Supreme Court Announces New Exigency Test for Blood Draws from Unconscious DWI Suspects

Late last month, the Supreme Court decided Mitchell v. Wisconsin, 588 U.S. ___ (June 27, 2019), a case in which the petitioner argued that the State of Wisconsin violated the Fourth Amendment by withdrawing his blood while he was unconscious without a warrant, following his arrest for impaired driving. Like many other states, including North Carolina, Wisconsin has a state statute that permits such blood draws. The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the petitioner’s conviction, though no single opinion from that court commanded a majority. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide “[w]hether a statute authorizing a blood draw from an unconscious motorist provides an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.” Though no justice found such a statutory exception and the judgment below was vacated, the outcome was not a win for the petitioner. Instead, a plurality of the court announced a State-favorable exigency rule, which it instructed the lower court to apply on remand. Facts. A law enforcement officer began looking for Gerald Mitchell after receiving a report that he was driving while impaired. The officer soon found Mitchell wandering near a lake. Mitchell was stumbling and slurring his words and had difficulty standing. Mitchell blew into a portable breath test, which registered a breath alcohol concentration of 0.24 percent. The officer arrested Mitchell for impaired driving and began to drive him to the police station, where he planned to perform a breath test on an evidential instrument. Mitchell’s condition worsened during the drive. After it became clear Mitchell would not [...]