'No Refusal' weekend successful, Kane attorney says

Seven people who initially refused a DUI test over Memorial Day weekend consented after being faced with a search warrant for a blood sample -- or the possibility of one.

On Kane County's first "No Refusal" weekend, prosecutors ended up getting evidence that will make those DUI convictions -- several for drivers with multiple DUIs -- easier to get, State's Attorney John Barsanti said Tuesday.

"I think it was wildly successful," he said. "We have (evidence) samples we never would have gotten."

The state's attorney's office arranged for police, assistant state's attorneys and phlebotomists to set up shop in the Tri-Cities on the Friday and Saturday preceding Memorial Day from 9 p.m. to past 3 a.m. If drivers refused to take a Breathalyzer test, prosecutors wrote out a search warrant, and police drove it to the county's on-duty judge to get it signed and brought it back to the police department.

Of the 14 people pulled over on suspicion of DUI in those two nights, only six consented to a Breathalyzer test. Four were over the legal threshold of 0.08 percent, with blood-alcohol levels ranging from .123 to .184 percent, Barsanti said.

One person blew a 0.078, and another blew a 0.00 but was suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. He submitted to blood tests, which were sent for testing.

Of the eight people who refused, four agreed to a test after hearing of the search warrant plans.

After police obtained search warrants for the other four, two consented to taking a Breathalyzer test and one consented to having blood drawn.

The last person still refused and Barsanti said his office would be pursuing charges for contempt of court. He said he had heard concerns in the community about taking blood samples by force, but that was never his intention.

Four of the eight people who refused already had at least one DUI conviction on their records, Barsanti said.

Even after a search warrant process that took about 2½ hours, three repeat offenders registered 0.150, 0.168 and 0.184 percent blood-alcohol content.

The cost of the two nights of activity was about $9,000 and footed by the county's DUI task force, Barsanti said.

He said he plans to have more "No Refusal" nights or weekends.

"It's more difficult to win a refusal case," he said. "And what we've done here basically is take that option away."