There can be. For some reason, if they have to draw a blood and if the person decides to take the plea agreements or if they go to trial and are convicted, certain cities want reimbursements for the blood vials and the blood kit that was used. It is usually a bit more than $100. In reality, even though prosecutors ask for restitution for the blood kits that were used and will ask upwards of about $120, the worst that I’ve heard is about $400. Restitution has to be substantiated if a defense lawyer challenges this and the only way to challenge it is going to be go to trial.
If convicted and the prosecutor asks for restitution, the defense attorney then has the opportunity to challenge the restitution and require that the states put out evidence showing that they are truly out the money that they are requesting. All the prosecutor can really prove it is that the blood kit cost maybe a couple of bucks, not the hundreds that they are requesting. The problem is that when they are included in plea agreements, prosecutors won’t remove them, so if you’re going to enter into a plea agreement, you basically have to accept the requested amount from the prosecutor’s restitution.
What Happens If The Blood Draw Results Do Not Show Any Traces of Alcohol or Drugs?
Unfortunately, it does happen quite a bit where they will suspect someone of driving under the influence, they will ask for a blood, breath, or urine, the person refuses, officers get a warrant, they will take the blood by force if necessary, serve the person with a one-year license suspension, and then when the blood test results come back, they don’t show a high level of alcohol or they don’t show any presence of drugs or medications.
In some cases, the case never just gets filed against the person because the blood test result didn’t come back with much of anything that the prosecution can use; however, the person still has to deal with that one-year license suspension because they refused the requested test when the officer believed that they had probable cause. It is possible to challenge that in the hearing.
In almost every case, it is going to be a huge benefit to the client to try to challenge the implied consent one-year license suspension for refusing, which is why it’s so important to get in touch with an attorney as soon as possible after an arrest because there is a limited amount of time before a person can no longer request that hearing.
A person has 15 days to request a hearing after the date that the license suspension is served upon them. An attorney is really in the best position to request that hearing. While a person can request a hearing themselves, there are so many ways of doing it wrong and it really does need to be handled correctly.
On one hand, the person doesn’t have to deal with charges; on the other hand, the person may have to deal with the license suspension for refusing, even though the officer was not truly seeing signs and symptoms that alleged probable cause to arrest the person because the person didn’t truly have drugs, medications or a high level of alcohol in their system.
For the officer’s mistake, you’re the one paying for it even though you are in the right, you knew you weren’t drunk or you knew you weren’t impaired by drugs or medications so you refused the blood test and also you were vindicated when the blood test results come back and there is really nothing in your system; however, you’re also the one paying the consequences with the one-year license suspension because you refused the officer’s misinterpretation of what he was observing.
Is the Prosecution Looking for the Slightest Level of Alcohol in a Blood Draw Test?
It gets a little complicated when we’re talking about the first count of DUI that everyone gets charged with. The prosecutor will allege that the person was impaired to the slightest degree by the consumption of alcohol.
In every state in the United States the system will tell you that it is not illegal to drink alcohol and then drive; it’s only if that alcohol impairs a person to the slightest degree. But then the prosecutor will go and blame everything that the person does on that alcohol. If the person hiccups, it’s because they were impaired to the slightest degree; if they did a rolling stop or failed to use a turn signal, it is because they were impaired to the slightest degree by alcohol.
It’s somewhat of a misnomer in that it is legal to drink alcohol. You can go out and have a glass of wine with a meal and you can drive after consuming that alcohol as long as you are not impaired to the slightest degree, but the prosecution will always claim that the person was impaired to the slightest degree by that alcohol. In Arizona, the presumption that would be given to the jury is that anyone above a 0.08 is presumed to be impaired and under the influence of alcohol.
For more information on Fees Charged for Blood Draws, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling 480-900-0384 today.
