DUI Search Warrants For Blood Testing

Roger Priest is a criminal defense attorney in Vancouver WA with extensive courtroom experience in Washington’s complex criminal laws

The most common way to prove a DUI in Washington is by proving that a person’s “blood alcohol concentration” is above the legal limit. This is usually done by breath testing.

How can breath testing prove blood alcohol concentration?

It might seem strange that we can test blood by testing breath. The reason this works is that your lungs have millions of capillaries that exchange blood and air back and forth. So, if your blood has alcohol in it, it will transfer alcohol into your breath.

It still begs the question, “Aren’t there better ways to test the content of blood?”

Of course! Testing blood directly is always more accurate than testing breath.

So why don’t we just test blood?

The reason is it takes more work. Washington police test breath because it is less work for them than to test blood.

How so?
Thanks to Washington’s Implied Consent law, you are legally required to provide a breath sample if arrested for DUI. The same is not true for a blood sample. A blood sample can only be taken if you consent or if the police officer gets a search warrant for your blood. Getting a search warrant for your blood requires lots of time, paperwork, and a brief hearing with a judge. This can take as little as 30 minutes to accomplish, but it is more work than simply offering you a breath test at the station.

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DUI blood search warrant Vancouver Washington

If You Have Been Charged With A DUI In Clark County or Vancouver WA, Time Is Of The Essence!

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DUI Search Warrant Process

Often, search warrants in DUI cases are pretty straight-forward. If the officer needs to seek a search warrant, they have a template warrant that they fill out. This warrant affidavit has check boxes and blank lines. This helps them fill it out quickly so they can make fewer mistakes. Once the warrant affidavit is complete, they often call the on-duty judge for a telephonic warrant hearing. During that hearing, they are audio recorded. They then read the warrant affidavit to the judge. The judge then decides whether there is enough evidence to grant the search warrant.

Search warrants must meet certain requirements to be granted. It is the judge’s role to decide whether the search warrant affidavit provides enough information to be granted.

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Roger Priest was my Criminal Attorney for a DUI case I had in 2018. Through out the whole process he was in contact and always was reassuring! He gave his honest opinion on rather or not if my case would be worth going to trial, which is hard to come by! Today I left the courtroom a free man to come home to my family with a lot of tension lifted off my shoulders because of how he was articulate and presented my defense. I am very lucky to have him in my corner and to be spared. I will take this experience as a wake up call because these opportunities don\\\'t come too often! Mr. Priest definitely deserves a 5 star rating for his devotion and overall performance.

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Roger Priest was referred to me by another lawyer (who could not take my case). Out of the 3 lawyers I reached out to Mr. Priest was willing to hear my case and not just try and convince me to take the easy route and plead out. He was informative, honest, and very tactical (in his approach with my case). Mr. Priest not only kept me updated with his plans and what to except he involved me in every aspect I could be in. He was very approachable and kind. I won my case, I wouldn’t have if I had gone with another lawyer. I am very satisfied with having had Roger Priest defend me. I hope to never have to use his services again but definitely would rehire him again (I wish I could hire him as my divorce attorney).

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