ROBIN VERA COLBERT v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Special Appeals, Friedman, July 28, 2016,
DUI – Breath Test – TR 16-205.1 is a constitutional per se rule approved under the USSC opinion in McNeely allowing warrantless blood tests in certain fatal crashes

Don’t you hate it when you’ve finished drafting your opinion only to have the Supreme Court release theirs first?

First Maryland case to examine Birchfield… albeit in a footnote

In McNeely, the USSC rejected a per se rule allowing warrantless blood tests in DUI cases.

Justice Kennedy noted in his concurrence

States and other governmental entities which enforce the driving laws can adopt rules, procedures, and protocols that meet the reasonableness requirements of the Fourth Amendment

The CoSA here decides that Maryland’s TR 16-205.1 is acceptable under Kennedy’s suggestion, as it only applies in a relatively narrow set of circumstances (death or life threatening injury).

There is some question as to the validity of this argument under McNeely, though I appreciate the extent to which the Court went to explain the legislature’s consideration of crowd control as part of the reason for forgoing a warrant to obtain a blood sample in fatal crashes