Pa. Court Declines to Apply SCOTUS Blood Test Ruling
A Pennsylvania man who was convicted of DUI for refusing a warrantless blood test may not retroactively apply recent U.S. Supreme Court case law on that issue in order to appeal his driving suspensions, the Commonwealth Court has ruled.
August 04, 2017 at 07:53 PM
4 minute read
A Pennsylvania man who was convicted of DUI for refusing a warrantless blood test may not retroactively apply recent U.S. Supreme Court case law on that issue in order to appeal his driving suspensions, the Commonwealth Court has ruled.
In an Aug. 3 opinion in Fetherman v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the court rejected Daniel Fetherman's argument that he should be able to appeal his suspensions beyond the 30-day limit based on Birchfield v. North Dakota, a June 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Because the license suspension is a civil sanction, the court said, he is not entitled to relief under the Post-Conviction Relief Act.
“A license suspension stemming from a refusal to submit to chemical testing is a separate administrative proceeding from a criminal DUI proceeding arising out of the same incident,” Judge Robert Simpson wrote for a three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court. “It is not a crime to refuse chemical testing under Pennsylvania's Implied Consent Law.”
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