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After a bit of a rocky start, law enforcement officials and prosecutors around the state say they’re now running into few problems with Wyoming’s new mandatory DUI (driving under the influence) testing law.

Since July 1, police officers have been able to get a judicial warrant requiring motorists pulled over for suspected alcohol or drug use to take a breath, blood or urine test. Prosecutors say the change has helped them win cases against drunk drivers, especially repeat offenders who know how to beat the system.

Civil liberties advocates have worried about officers restraining uncooperative suspects by force to take a blood-alcohol test, and some judges question the constitutionality of requesting a warrant by phone.

Police and prosecutors say it’s still too early to pass final judgment on the new law.

But in the past few months, police officials in many counties say that as more people learn about the law, most suspects now yield to testing without force. Judges, too, say they’re becoming more comfortable with the legality of the law, even if they may still be annoyed by late-night phone calls from an officer seeking a warrant.

“The general consensus is that it’s going well,” said Eric Phillips, Wyoming’s traffic safety resource prosecutor. “A lot of the anticipated worries haven’t come to fruition.”

Within the first two months of the new law being enforced, police in at least 16 Wyoming counties received warrants for DUI testing, a Casper Star-Tribune survey found.

In four counties, at least one suspect continued to refuse, leading officers to conduct blood tests by force.

On July 31. Cheyenne police received a warrant to test a 24-year-old man who was pulled over after reportedly driving erratically. When he still resisted, he was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where five Cheyenne police officers held him down while a blood draw was conducted.

But in the past four months, no such incidents have taken place in Laramie County, said Laramie County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gerry Luce.

“What we’ve seen here in the last three months is the trend has been extremely downward, if you will,” Luce said. “From our perspective, people understand that they’re required to comply with the law.”

Law enforcement agencies in other counties have also overcome initial difficulties.

For years, the Converse County Sheriff’s Office has taken DUI suspects to Memorial Hospital in Douglas for blood tests.

But when the new mandatory DUI law first took effect, the hospital refused to test people against their will, out of concern that unruly suspects would disrupt hospital operations.

For the past couple of months, though, the hospital has reached an arrangement with the sheriff’s department to send a nurse to the department’s detention facility to draw blood whenever a suspect is unwilling.

“It’s working very well,” Memorial Hospital Chief Nursing Officer George Rudloff said.
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Wyoming is preparing for a new DUI law and about 120 new state laws to take effect this week.

The new DUI law imposes a fine of up to $750 for violating DUI statutes while having a minor passenger in the vehicle.

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Casper’s police chief wants the City Council to pass stricter local laws to help fight drunken driving.

Acting Chief Chris Walsh asked council members to consider instituting jail mandatory jail time for those convicted of DUI along with making it illegal for those stopped on suspicion of drunken driving to resist a blood test.

“When we get a refusal … it’s very difficult to prosecute the case,” Walsh told the council Monday at its work session.

A new Wyoming law that goes into effect July 1 requires suspected drunken drivers to submit to breath, blood or urine tests, but forces police to obtain search warrants from judges by telephone in cases when suspects refuse. An ordinance adopted by the city of Laramie doesn’t contain the search warrant provision.

The number of DUI arrests in Casper continues to climb. There were 643 DUI arrests in 2010, up from 375 in 2005, according to city data. In 2010, drunken drivers caused 100 collisions in the city.

Walsh also asked that drivers with a blood-alcohol level greater than .15 percent face a mandatory jail sentence of seven days and a $750 fine for first-time offenders and 30 days in jail for repeat offenders. Walsh said he would like to pair the jail time with substance abuse counseling.
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A number of Wyoming judges have questioned the constitutionality of a key provision in a new anti-drunken-driving law allowing police officers to request search warrants by telephone.

Some have also voiced concern that the new law could overburden judges by forcing them to deal with a litany of late-night phone calls on top of their normal workload.

The law, which takes effect July 1, requires that motorists pulled over for suspected drug or alcohol use submit to a breath, blood or urine test.

If the suspect refuses, the law states that a law enforcement officer can contact a district court judge from the scene by “voice, image, or text” to instantly obtain a search warrant requiring a test. The communication between the officer and the judge, as well as the warrant issued, must be preserved in writing or on a recording.

Right now, it can take several hours for an officer to write up an affidavit stating the facts of the case and present it to a judge, who then decides whether to issue a warrant.

Currently, judges in 23 states, as well as federal judges, are allowed to hear affidavits and issue warrants over the telephone. Many other states allow the affidavits and warrants to be issued via fax, e-mail, or closed-circuit television.

But several Wyoming circuit court judges said they believed allowing officers to request a warrant by phone violates Article 1, section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution, which states that “no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by affidavit.”

Previous Wyoming Supreme Court rulings, said Uinta County Circuit Judge Michael Greer, have interpreted that phrase to mean that warrants can only be issued based upon written affidavits.

“[Filing affidavits by phone] certainly makes it more convenient, but there’s some question whether that’s permissible under our state constitution,” he said.

Natrona County Circuit Judge Michael Huber and other judges said it would be improper for them to say whether they would issue DUI search warrants based solely on a phone call from a police officer.

But Huber said some judges could refuse to issue any warrants unless they receive a written affidavit.
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Rep. Keith Gingery was fresh out of high school in 1989 when his friend Laurel was killed by a drunken driver on the Snake River bridge along Highway 89.

The 17-year-old’s death shook the community, Gingery said, and he has thought of her during the many years he has worked to strengthen the state’s driving under the influence laws.

Gov. Matt Mead recently signed a bill sponsored by Gingery that will eliminate drivers’ rights to refuse chemical testing. With a warrant, police will be able to force a person to submit to testing. The new law will take effect July 1.

“I hope this gives some solace to her friends and family,” Gingery said, “that she did not die in vain and her death spurred others to work hard on this issue.”

But not all see Gingery’s bill as a trouble-free solution. Both a defense lawyer and a police officer underlined problems that could be lurking.

Jackson Police Chief Todd Smith said the law could put his force in more conflict situations. Attorney Dick Stout said the broad measure trammels civil rights.

Gingery, R-Jackson, sponsored a measure last year that eliminated loopholes in the state’s DUI laws that made prosecution difficult. This year, supporters of Gingery’s bill say driving is a privilege and too many drivers refuse chemical testing on second and subsequent offenses. They hoped removing the right to refuse testing would reduce drunken driving.

Teton County and Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman said the new law will help to close the last loophole.

For 30 years, Wyoming’s law has hobbled prosecution and allowed people to drive drunk without consequence, he said.

“It was in its naked essence a demon disguised as an angel of light,” he said.

“That is always the most insidious form of evil — something that is embraced as good but which actually has been a destroyer of families and lives across this state for its 30-year legacy.”
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A bill that would close loopholes in Wyoming’s mandatory ignition interlock law passed through a legislative committee this morning.

The legislation is designed to address flaws in the law that may have allowed hundreds of convicted drunken drivers to avoid having the devices installed in their cars.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill by a 5-0 vote, according to its sponsor, Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper.

The devices prevent drivers from starting their cars if they’ve been drinking. A law passed in 2009 requires them to be installed in the vehicles of first-time offenders convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of .15 or higher.

However, data from the Wyoming Department of Transportation shows the devices were installed in fewer than 20 percent of the drivers who met that criteria.

A technicality in the law allowed prosecutors and defense attorneys to use the devices as a point of negotiation in plea bargains, according to Perkins. In exchange for a guilty plea, a prosecutor might agree to stipulate that a defendant’s blood-alcohol concentration was below the level where the device becomes mandatory.

The law also mandates the devices for people with multiple drunken driving convictions.

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Leaders in Laramie have given final approval to tougher penalties for drunken drivers.

The Laramie Boomerang reports that city councilors passed the law in a 8-1 vote Tuesday night.

The new penalties include a mandatory sentence of 7 days in jail for first-time offenders and 30 days for repeat offenders.

The law, which takes effect New Year’s Day, also makes it a crime for anyone to refuse to take a test to determine whether they are drunk.

The penalties are tougher than those laid out by state law and believed to stricter than any other municipality in Wyoming.

The parents of two of the eight University of Wyoming students killed in a 2001 crash with a drunken driver were among those who urged councilors to change the law.

Information from: Laramie Daily Boomerang – Laramie, http://www.laramieboomerang.com

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A legal loophole may have allowed hundreds of people to avoid having devices installed in their vehicles designed to prevent them from driving after drinking, a lawmaker said.

The loophole has turned the ignition lock requirement into a negotiating point in some plea bargains, Sen. Drew Perkins told the Casper Star-Tribune in Sunday’s editions.

“There were probably several hundred first-time DUIs that would have been required to have ignition interlocks that didn’t happen,” said Perkins, a Casper Republican.

The law, which took effect last year, requires first-time drinking-and-driving offenders to have the devices on their vehicles for six months if their blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent or more.

A second DUI conviction requires drivers to use the device for one year, and a third means using it for two years. With four or more DUI convictions, a driver must operate only vehicles with ignition control devices for life.

Perkins said the law relies only on blood-alcohol levels listed in paperwork filed after a DUI conviction. If the blood-alcohol level isn’t on those documents, the state can’t require the device, even if the level is listed on arrest documents.

State statistics show that fewer than 20 percent of the 745 drivers who met that criteria actually installed the devices between July 2009, when the program started, and the end of October.

Don Edington, manager of the state Transportation Department driver services program, said officials don’t know for certain why the others didn’t.

A total of 500 devices have been installed in that period, including first-time and repeat offenders, he said.

The law has other loopholes, the newspaper reported. Offenders can ignore the requirement to install the device, have their licenses suspended and continue to drive illegally.

Perkins said he plans to sponsor a bill in the next session to close the loopholes.

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The Laramie City Council has given preliminary approval to penalties for drunken drivers that are tougher than Wyoming (their state) law.

The measure unanimously approved Tuesday would impose a mandatory seven-day jail sentence and a minimum $200 fine on drivers arrested with a high blood alcohol content — 0.15 or above. A repeat offender would have to serve 30 days in jail and pay a maximum fine of $750.

City Attorney Dave Clark said the city has an opinion from the attorney general saying Laramie can have an ordinance that’s stricter than state law. Also, a provision would make it an offense to refuse to take a chemical test when a police officer has reason to believe a driver is drunk.

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This will be the last legislative session in which Gov. Dave Freuthenthal’s signature will convert bills into laws. On Thursday morning, he announced he will not run for another term as Wyoming’s governor, but this week many bills landed on his desk.

The Wyoming State Legislature wrapped its 60th session up today, leaving more than 100 bills inactive and working out a $50 million difference between the Senate and House budget bills.

As of press time, the House and Senate had appointed their respective general governmental appropriations bills to a Joint Conference Committee. Last Thursday the two released budgets in which the Senate was more fiscally conservative in school construction and direct distributions to local governments. The General Fund sits at $2.9 billion and a compromise was expected by Tuesday.

Of the more than 100 bills that failed, missed a deadline for consideration or were indefinitely postponed were a minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour, the proposed Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act that would exempt Wyoming from federal regulation, the proposed Wyoming Food Freedom Act and the House version of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) amendments.

However, the Senate DUI penalties amendment was presented to Freudenthal Wednesday afternoon, and he signed it into law as SEA11.

The Governor also acted on House Bill 13, regarding underage drinking. The bill, which he signed into law, creates an offense for anyone under 21 attempting to enter a business or location in which alcohol is sold and expands offenses for underage drinking.

Freudenthal also signed Senate File 26, which permits individuals with a concealed weapons permit from any other state to carry a concealed firearm in Wyoming and would permit those convicted of misdemeanor controlled substance offenses to acquire a permit a year after completing a sentence.

Among the bills still awaiting active in one of the houses or waiting action by Freudenthal Thursday afternoon are the juvenile detention facilities bills and extended eligibility for concealed weapons permits. The action taken by the read more…