Minnesota Court of Appeals Finds Crime of Test Refusal Unconstitutional for Urine Tests

Posted On December 28, 2015
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Today, we won an appeal in State v. Thompson. In the published opinion, the Court of Appeals ruled that the State cannot prosecute drivers for refusing to submit to a warrantless urine test.

We conclude that conducting a warrantless blood or urine test would not have been constitutional under an exception to the warrant requirement, charging appellant with criminal test refusal implicates his fundamental right to be free from unconstitutional searches, and the test-refusal statute as applied to warrantless blood and urine tests is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. We therefore reverse appellant's conviction because the test-refusal statute violates appellant's right to substantive due process under the United States and Minnesota Constitutions.

An excellent outcome for our client, and a wonderful way to end the year.

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