Iowa City DUI/OWI – Independent Blood Tests

If you are arrested for Operating While Intoxicated in Iowa, there are a couple of important things to know regarding your right to an independent chemical test measuring your blood alcohol content.

First, any suspect who submits to a test requested by a police officer has a right to their own independent chemical test. The request for that test must be made within a “reasonable” amount of time after the arrest and the police-administered test. Iowa courts have found that requests for an independent test made two hours or more after an arrest were not within a reasonable time frame – so the sooner a suspect requests an independent test after submitting to the police test, the better.

Second, although an arresting officer does not have a duty to inform a suspect of their right to an independent test, once a request for one is made, they do have to make reasonable accommodations to help the person get one. What qualifies as “reasonable accommodations” depends on the circumstances of each case. For instance, police officers do not have an absolute duty to transport an arrestee from jail just to get an independent test, but they do have to allow an arrestee to at least make phone calls. In general, the police do not need to go out of their way to make sure a suspect gets an independent test – particularly if the suspect does not make it absolutely clear they want one.

If, however, a suspect can show that the police interfered with his or her right to an independent test, Iowa courts have held the remedy is suppression of the state-administered chemical test – meaning that the test given by the officer would not be admissible in court. However, because the Iowa OWI law makes clear that a suspect’s mere inability to obtain an independent test does not preclude the admission of the results of a police-administered test, there is a fairly high threshold to meet. A suspect that merely mentions he or she would like an independent test, but doesn’t ask to make any phone calls or for other assistance in getting the test (and subsequently does not get one), is unlikely to have the police-administered test thrown out. If, on the other hand, a suspect is able to show he or she clearly and repeatedly asked for an independent test, and the police actively refused to do anything to further the suspect’s ability to get that test, an argument that the police interfered with the right to an independent test could be successful.

The bottom line: in almost every OWI case, a suspect should submit to the test requested by the police officer. He or she should request to get an independent test soon after taking the police-administered test, and should be clear about that request. At a minimum, the police need to allow a suspect to make phone calls in an effort to get an independent test. If the police completely refuse to assist the suspect in getting their own chemical test, a motion to exclude the police-administered test from evidence could be successful.

This article was drafted by Attorney Caitlin Moore for Thompson Law Office.