Vampire Prosecutors, Cooperative Judges, and Fill in the Blank Search Warrants

As free people, the contents of our veins should not be subject to a search warrant. However, the tyranny of good intentions that is MADD/DWI prosecution has convinced the public that forced DWI blood draws will keep us safe. Ergo, forced blood draws are becomming a sadly common practice.

The TDCAA message board has a recent thread on forcibly extracting DWI blood samples. Here are some comments from blood lusting prosecutors. Each paragraph is a seperate prosecutor.

In Colorado County we do a blood test on all refusal cases and have done so for
several years using a fill-in-the-blank search warrantr form that has worked
really well. There is a backlog of cases awaiting results from the DPS lab, but
it is well worth the wait.

My judges are getting a bit tired of being jolted out a sound sleep but they are still very cooperative as well….We had a “No Refusal” weekend a couple of weeks before Christmas. We jointly sponsored it with our local MADD chapter. Good results and great PR!

Imagine how it would work if every DWI suspect (felony or misdemeanor) was required by statute (as is true in most states) to provide a sample. It would put an end to the misleading claims by defene lawyers that a defendant has a “right” to destroy physical evidence of intoxication. Of course, those lawyers know that the privilege against self incrimination applies to words, not blood. Furthermore, the constitutional protection against an unreasonable search is not violated by a warrantless seizure of blood based upon a probable cause arrest for DWI — because the delay caused by getting a warrant provides time for the loss of evidence as the body absorbs the alcohol.

We were lucky enough to have the cooperation of all our LE agencies, local judges, and hospital ER/lab to make this work. The judges rotate being on call (at home, with a fax machine) and our local hospital staff is trained on

Do we want “cooperative” local judges who sign “fill in the blank” warrants? This Orwellian Criminal Justice Theatre makes a mockery out of our constitutional protections.

The 3rd quote is from John Bradley, the elected DA in Williamson County. He proposes that no warrant is even needed for a blood draw. After all, this “Evidence” is being destroyed in the defendant’s bodies. What is sad is that our Constitutional protections have been eroded to the point where he may be right.

These DWI blood draws make convictions easier to get which seems to be the new duty of Texas prosecutors (to convict/get good PR). You had the right remain silent, and the right to be secure in your person from unreasonable searches, and the right to counsel. Those antiquated rights have been replaced with the new right to have your blood forcibly removed by the State.

Labels: DWI, Search Warrants

<img src="http://www.blogge says:

January 26, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Robert: This is a damn good, important point. It makes me think about 1984. It reminds me of a police state. It reveals the prosecutor’s self-centered interest in being right and always getting what they want. I need to think on it a while and launch a post of my own. Even the judges are caught up in the bull. Doesn’t anyone have the courage to say, “leave me alone, I’m sleeping!”sg

January 27, 2008 at 8:39 am

Thanks for reading Stephen. I just want the public to be aware that some DA’s are fighting against freedom, privacy, liberty, the Bill of Rights, etc in the name of “good PR”. It is a seperate tragedy that judges have become simply a cog in the convictino machine. I look forward to your post.RG

<img src="http://www.blogger.c says:

January 27, 2008 at 6:58 pm

Like the pin prick(pun intended) of a lethal injection to lady liberty, it’s only a matter of time…Doesn’t this seem to skirt around the whole idea of innocent, until proven guilty. The direct assumption being that you are guilty of dui/dwi. As far as I know we still use an adversarially based judicial system, one that operates on an assumption that governments derive “their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed”, one which must prove your guilt before removing your rights to be secure in your person. What’s more personal than your blood. I can only think of one thing…and they ain’t prickin’ that!!Is their any legislation to back up these bench warrants or is this just more legislating from the bench? And who pays for these tests? First a mandate that you must pay the government bill through taxes, now they want your blood. I get paid for donating blood at a clinic, the least they could do is give me a tax credit or write off if they do this!RJR & Harley

January 28, 2008 at 12:16 pm

To RJR & Harley. Yes, it skirts the idea of innocent until proven guilty. And yes, in theory, we still use the assumption that government derives it’s just power from the consent of the governed. But these notions were long ago turned on their head vis-a-vis DWI-DUI. Almost every aspect of these, in practice, assumes guilt and you must prove innocence. The breath test, the breath test refusal, sobriety checkpoints (police state style roadblocks), so-called field sobriety checks. Which of these, even if they were not based on junk science, which they are, would still fly in the face of the 4th, 5th, or 6th Amendement, or all three. Yet fascists at MADD and other prohibitionist groups have convinced even SCOTUS that we must vacate the Constitution in favor of saving Americans from the “carnage on the highway”. The “reefer madness” of the 40’s pales in comparison to the crap they are foisting upon us now, with alcohol replacing pot as the agent for the destruction of America. If we don’t stop them, we deserve what we get. Vote for any true libertarian that gets a filing fee together and runs, for any office.