WASHINGTON—An unconscious person suspected of drunk driving forfeits his right to refuse consent for a blood draw aimed at gathering evidence against him because it was his own decisions that led to his unconsciousness, a lawyer for Wisconsin told the Supreme Court.
On one hand, the case of accused drunk driver Gerald P. Mitchell’s appeal against a conviction based on a forced blood draw—while he was unconscious—comes as civil libertarians become increasingly vocal in their criticism of what they consider to be government-sanctioned invasions of privacy and unreasonable searches.
