The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled against a part of DUI law as a response to the pending Andrea Elliot DUI case. The court ruled unanimously that a driver can't be forced to take a breath test and that this refusal couldn't be used against her at trial because this violates protections against self-incrimination in the Georgia Constitution. Justice Nels S.D. Peterson wrote that the “Court cannot change the Georgia Constitution, even if we believe there may be good policy reasons for doing so; only the General Assembly and the people of Georgia may do that. And this Court cannot rewrite statutes.” When a driver refuses the breathalyzer, the police will now have to get a warrant to take blood or urine which must be tested at a medical facility.
Okay. A lot to take in here. This will make enforcing DUI laws more difficult as in the case of when an officer can't get a warrant electronically, they will have to go to a judge's house in the middle of the night to get a warrant for a traffic stop. Also after acquiring a warrant, the individual in question will have to be taken to a medical facility to get tested. This seems like a lot of work for little reason. Couldn't the police just get a warrant to have them take a breathalyzer test? This process is now a little excessive. If you drink and drive you have broken the law. Simple as that. Even if you decide not to “incriminate yourself” with a breathalyzer, you'll just have to get a blood or urine sample. I agree with that fact that refusal to take the test shouldn't be used against you, but the whole refusal to take the breathalyzer test doesn't really make sense to me. Anyways, I understand why the court ruled in this way (because they have to go off of the Constitution like the rest of America), but if we have learned any lessons from Plessy vs. Ferguson or the Dredd Scott case or many others we know that the Constitution has needed to be amended in the past… and that goes for the Georgia Constitution as well.
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/breaking-georgia-high-court-strikes-down-part-dui-law/eLskh4ABFolqARRaPVd6qN/amp.html
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