Legal Question in DUI Law in Illinois

how can a person be penalized for not submitting to a breathlizer test. Does this not violate the 5th amendment


Asked on 12/16/11, 7:07 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

There are 2 kinds of tests: you mis-spelled the at the station test: a breathalyzer. The "test" that may be given at the "roadside" and is a portable unit, is not admissible as evidence in Illinois and is supposed to be used only to help the officer determine if you are impaired, and you can refuse it without consequences although the officer can still arrest you based on other observations (slurred speech, odor of alcohol, etc.). But if you are taken into the station and you refuse the breathalyzer, that is grounds for license suspension because driver's licenses are considered "privileges" and not absolute rights covered by the 5th at least according to current case law.

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Answered on 12/16/11, 10:01 am


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