Chicago DUI Attorneys Examine Kane County DUI Crackdown

We’ve been following the story of forced blood-draws at DUI checkpoints in Florida with careful attention. Now, reports from Kane County indicate that Kane County’s “no refusal” crackdown may be called off due to a recent judge’s ruling. During “no refusal” DUI periods, prosecutors seek contempt of court charges against motorists suspected of DUI who refuse forced blood-draws.

The full story on Kane County’s DUI arrests follows below:

DUI crackdown tactic loses court test

Kane County’s next “no-refusal” DUI crackdown may be called off after a judge ruled today that a suspected drunk driver who defied a search warrant to provide a blood sample was not guilty of contempt of court.

Prosecutors had sought jail time on contempt charges against Bradford Stehlik, a Montgomery resident who was arrested Memorial Day weekend in a drunk driving crackdown, the county’s first so-called “no refusal weekend.”

As part of the crackdown, prosecutors drafted search warrants to be executed on suspected drunk drivers who refused to provide a blood sample. The warrants were taken to an on-call judge to be signed.

Authorities aimed the actions at repeat offenders, who, police say, would rather risk the automatic license suspension that comes with a refusal than provide the potentially incriminating evidence of a blood sample — and the risk of an mandatory license revocation that comes with a second DUI conviction.

When he was stopped, Stehlik refused to provide a sample after being presented with a warrant. Prosecutors argued that his actions constituted criminal contempt of court, but Judge Kevin Busch on Friday disagreed.

“We’re disappointed with the ruling, but he’s the judge,” Kane County State’s Atty. John Barsanti said. “That’s what he gets paid for.”

The judge said refusing a search warrant is not the same as refusing a court order, according to Barsanti.

With another enforcement planned for March 14 and 17, the ruling had prosecutors scrambling. Barsanti said he would study options this weekend, but was considering postponing or perhaps canceling the upcoming “no refusal” weekend. An appeal is also being considered, he said.

“We’ve got everybody working on it trying to figure it out,” Barsanti said.

Barsanti said his office had considered charging Stehlik with obstruction of justice, but decided the language of a contempt citation was most appropriate from a legal standpoint. But if obstruction is a poor fit and contempt is not possible, then there would potentially be no consequences for drivers who refuse to comply with a warrant.

“I don’t know what else we’d do,” Barsanti said.

In other states that have done “no refusal” actions, police are authorized to take a sample by force. However, Barsanti said he does not believe Illinois law allows force.

– Clifford Ward

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