MOTOR VEHICLE ADMINISTRATION v. JAMES ROBERT SPIES, III
Court of Appeals, Bell, Filed Dec. 23, 2013,
DUI- Moderate odor of alcoholic beverage on driver’s breath, alone, constitutes reasonable grounds for law enforcement to request driver submit to an alcohol content test under TR § 16-205.1(b)(2)

Civil case (in case the case name didn’t clue you in), but with criminal-law implications

Driver failed to obey a traffic control device (unspecified), trooper detected moderate odor of an alcoholic beverage on the driver’s breath, driver refused SFST, was arrested, was read DR-15, refused to take alcohol content test

Reasonable Suspicion- Trooper’s detection of moderate alcohol on the driver’s breath “amounts to more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch, and does indeed satisfy the low quantum of suspicion necessary for reasonable grounds.”

* The title on the Court Opinions page was “MVA v. Spies.” Suffice to say that this opinion did not address the issues I had anticipated.