§ 724.013. PROHIBITION ON TAKING SPECIMEN IF PERSON REFUSES; EXCEPTION. Except as provided by Section 724.012(b), a specimen may not be taken if a person refuses to submit to the taking of a specimen designated by a peace officer.
This is part of the “implied consent” chapter of the Texas Trasnportation Code. Unless you are in a car accident with serious injuries (724.012b) this Prohibition on Taking Specimen applies. Notice how their is now exception for fill in the blank search warrants signed by “cooperative judges.”
Now, pretend you are on the Court of Criminal Appeals. Here are the facts.
A defendant has been arrested for DWI and refused to give a blood sample. There has been no injury accident. Officer Friendly gets a warrant and forcibly removes defendant’s blood. Defendants argues that this search violates 724.013 and the 4th Amendment and should be suppressed.
That sentence says a lot about COCA, the 4th Amendment and criminal justice in Texas. COCA judges find it absurd to give DWI suspects more protection even if the law is clear and unambiguous. Absurd- their word, not mine.
Judicial Activism Cuts Both Ways
Conservatives often decry “judicial activism” for issues like gay marriage.Yet this police state judicial activism is ignored by the same conservative pundits.
COCA ignored the plain meaning of the statute. The legislature could have put in an exception in the law for warrants, and didn’t. So, an appellate court made new law and ignored the “strict constructionism” so often praised in conservative circles.