Wyoming Implied Consent Law

In this way, the Wyoming legislature — like many other state legislators — effectively declared, “If you drive on our roads, accept a chemical test of your blood, breath or urine if a police officer suspects you of drunk driving.” The constitutional question is therefore subpoenaed in favor of law enforcement agencies who are able to secure your biomaterials for testing. Accordingly, it is a matter of strict compliance with the law on implied consent by law enforcement authorities. Let`s break down the status of “implied consent.” Taking a sample of a person`s biological materials to test for drugs or alcohol is a “search and seizure” under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (and Section 1, Section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution). Thus, police need an arrest warrant or the presence of a valid exemption from the arrest warrant requirement to obtain a biological sample of a person. In the context of impaired driving, the police have a special legislative instrument: “implied consent”. Beyond the aforementioned general law, Wyoming`s “implied consent” law requires that other conditions be met before a police officer can obtain a sample of your blood, breath, or urine. First and foremost, the sample can only be taken “by chance for lawful arrest.” In short, if the officer caught you improperly or illegally, he cannot use this erroneous seizure to take a biological sample of your body. So be careful. If you are in a driving vehicle on a public highway or property open to the public, you have consented to a blood, breath or urine test for alcohol and drugs. (i) Any person who drives a motor vehicle on a highway or highway in that State, or who actually has physical control of a motor vehicle, is deemed to have consented to a chemical examination or to blood, breath or urine tests for the purpose of determining the concentration of alcohol or the level of controlled substances in his blood, subject to the provisions of this Act. The exam(s) are as follows: 31-6-108. Implied consent requirements for young drivers. If you are charged with impaired driving in Wyoming, you run the risk of losing your right to drive.

Under Wyoming`s implied consent laws, operating a motor vehicle is deemed to have given your consent to breath, blood or urine tests. If drunk driving is suspected, a breathalyzer test and, in some cases, a blood test are performed. Because the literacy of each Fourth Amendment question is “adequacy,” the law favors and encourages police to act with the consent of the person questioning or investigating them. As a result, a person (with the appropriate authority – but we will lift that for another position) can consent to a particular search or seizure without a police warrant, making this police action legal and valid. Because of its informality and far-reaching implications, consent is a major exception to the requirement of an injunction. But with impaired driving, the law expands consent even further, provided that virtually all drivers actually agree to a chemical test of their blood, breath or urine based on their driving on public roads. This is commonly referred to as “implied consent.” (e) Any person who is deceased, unconscious or in a condition which prevents him or her from cooperating in the conduct of the tests shall be deemed to have given his or her consent in accordance with this Section, and the tests may be carried out subject to this Section. A chemical test designated by the agency employing the peace officer may also be performed on a person who refuses to conduct a test after issuing a search warrant, including a search warrant transmitted remotely, pursuant to W.S. 31-6-102(d). A search warrant transmitted remotely is valid only for the purposes set out in this paragraph. The most significant “consequence” of the law of silence, which exists independently of criminal prosecution, is the so-called “suspension per se DUI” of your Wyoming driver`s license or non-resident driving privilege in Wyoming. The Wyoming legislature included in the Implied Consent Act an automatic 90-day suspension of your Wyoming driver`s license or non-Wyoming resident driving privilege if the results of an otherwise valid chemical test conducted under the Implied Consent Act indicate that you had a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08%.

This suspension is separate from and independent of the consequences of the driver`s licence resulting from a conviction for impaired driving. As a result, the Wyoming Supreme Court simplified legislators` inclusion of “actual physical control” in implied driving laws and implied consent to apprehend impaired drivers before they can cause harm while driving, and to deter drunk people from attempting to get into a vehicle. except as passengers. The lesson, then, is that the “actual physical control” of a motor vehicle through the lens should be examined to see if the person in question may have started driving or tried to get into that position. (c) Any person who is dead, unconscious or in a condition which renders him incapable of submitting to the tests shall be deemed to have given his consent in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section, and the tests may be carried out subject to the provisions of this Act. So what is the lesson of Wyoming`s (and other states`) implied consent law? If you have an illegal blood alcohol level and are driving a moving vehicle or parked in an adjacent public or public space, you run the risk of being convicted of impaired driving or having your driver`s licence revoked, regardless of how you drive (or not drive). So be warned: you are not in trouble only because the police have not contacted you. As soon as the police contact you, you have problems. The Implied Consent Act, Wyo. Stat. ann.

§ 31-6-102, states: Wyoming law does not define “public road or highway” — although the term is an integral part of impaired driving and implied consent. On the contrary, Wyoming law defines “road or highway” as “the entire width between the boundary lines of any road that is publicly maintained or, if not publicly maintained, is reserved for public use, if any part of it is accessible for use by the public for motor vehicle purposes.” .