« Law - Still more on 6th Circuit decision holding Ohio tax incentives unconstitutional | Main | Environment - Stories Today »

Friday, September 17, 2004

Indiana Decisions - Tongue stud DUI case argued yesterday before Supreme Court

"Tongue stud's impact on breath test argued: State Supreme Court considers whether mouth jewelry affected the examination in woman's 2001 DUI case." That is the headline to this story today in the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes:

Brenna Guy doesn't wear a stainless steel stud in her tongue anymore, but her old one was debated at the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Indianapolis woman's tongue stud is at the center of a case about the way police should deal with metal in people's mouths during alcohol breath tests.

Guy, 23, was wearing the mouth jewelry when an Indianapolis Police Department officer pulled her over in 2001 and suspected she was driving drunk. Though he noticed she was wearing a tongue stud, he didn't make her take it out.

Guy's breath test showed a blood-alcohol level at which a driver is considered drunk, so she was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. She was not convicted; the case is on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling.

State law and regulations declare that no "foreign substance" be in a person's mouth during the 20 minutes before a breath test.

And that's the crux of the issue before the state's five-member high court, which didn't issue a ruling Thursday.

I, for one, certainly would have been surpised if it had.

The case heard yesterday was Brenna Guy v. State of Indiana. Here is the Court of Appeals decision.

Here are links to three ILB entries on Court of Appeals decisions on tongue studs: 4/5/04; 4/3/04; and 4/2/04.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 17, 2004 09:06 AM
Posted to Indiana Decisions