The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments over whether it’s unconstitutional for a DUI suspect’s refusal of a warrantless blood draw to be used against him at trial.
The court granted allocatur in Commonwealth v. Bell on April 5, agreeing to consider a single issue: “Whether Section 1547(e) of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. Section 1547(e), is violative of Article 1, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the extent that it permits evidence of an arrestee’s refusal to submit a sample of blood for testing without a search warrant as proof of consciousness of guilt at the arrestee’s trial on a charge of DUI?”
