BAT results admissible in DUI manslaughter prosecution despite arresting officer’s failure to advise defendant of his right to refuse BAT
How later courts described this case
- BAT results admissible in DUI manslaughter prosecution despite arresting officer’s failure to advise defendant of his right to refuse BAT
- “[Schmerber ] also held that the elimination of alcohol by natural bodily functions presents exigent circumstances which obviate the necessity of obtaining a search warrant.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
MORGAN, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent for two reasons. First I consider Buckingham to be a sound well-reasoned decision. I don’t read the majority opinion as modifying it but rather as overruling it, which brings up my second reason, the doctrine of stare decisis. While this doctrine is not a rule of law but rather a judicial policy the courts generally do not lightly overrule a precedent. I find no sound reason for doing so in this instance. I do not consider that a review of the arguments as briefed in the Buckingham appeal constitutes a satisfactory reason.