TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled that a man could be convicted of driving under the influence using evidence obtained under a defunct law.
In a ruling Friday, the appeals panel said the statute in question had been struck down by the Kansas Supreme Court after Brent Kraemer’s 2013 arrest in Salina for suspicion of DUI, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported (https://j.mp/24cI1Kk).
The officer read Kraemer an implied consent advisory, informing him of a criminal charge if he refused to take a blood-alcohol test. After hearing the advisory, Kraemer agreed to take the test, which he failed.
In February of this year, the Kansas Supreme Court determined criminal punishments for refusing a blood-alcohol test are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the constitutionality of similar criminal punishments in other states. As a result of the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling, the advisory the officer read to Kraemer has since been replaced.
Kraemer urged the state Court of Appeals to find his consent to the blood-alcohol test was involuntary and coerced by an unconstitutional advisory.
But the appeals panel said the officer who read the advisory to Kraemer “acted in good faith” by following the law that was in effect at the time.
“The criminal penalty statute was struck down by the Kansas Supreme Court as unconstitutional only after Kraemer’s arrest,” the ruling said.
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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, https://www.cjonline.com
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