State v. Sanchez
State v. Sanchez, 2020 Ut App 158 (Christiansen Forster, J.)
Criminal
A police officer stopped in a neighborhood in response to a call about a loud party and tried to stop several cars driving down the road. The officer believed that the defendant ignored his signal to stop. More officers stopped the defendant later and arrested him. The State charged the defendant with DUI. After filing several failed suppression motions, the defendant pleaded guilty. The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed, holding:
- The officer did have probable cause to arrest the defendant, and an officer’s subjective reason for making an arrest is irrelevant to the question of probable cause.
- Even if all the challenged statements were omitted from the officer’s warrant to draw the defendant’s blood, there still would be sufficient probable cause for the officer to obtain the warrant to draw the defendant’s blood.