The West Virginia State Police will be conducting a DUI Checkpoint beginning on Saturday, March 23 at 8:00 p.m. and ending at 2:00 a.m. on March 24. on W.Va. Route 7/Mason Dixon Highway in Pursglove, which is between Morgantown and Cassville.
Persons stopped for any purpose at checkpoints set up by government officials on public roadways have been “seized” for Fourth Amendment purposes. Generally, a law enforcement officer must have at least reasonable suspicion to seize a person. One exception is a DUI Checkpoint, which is a suspicionless seizure. For a checkpoint seizure to satisfy the constitutional requirements of the Fourth Amendment, the seizure must be reasonable under the circumstances.
This requires the use of strict predetermined guidelines and minimal discretion of officers in the field. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has held that “[s]uspicionless checkpoint roadblocks are constitutional in West Virginia only when conducted in a random and non-discriminatory manner within predetermined written operation guidelines which minimize the State's intrusion into the freedom of the individual and which strictly limits the discretion vested in police officers at the scene.” Syl. Pt. 9, State v. Sigler, 224 W. Va. 608, 687 S.E.2d 391 (2009).
For example, courts have approved a DUI Checkpoint done on a random basis pursuant to a preconceived plan, such as the stopping of every car at a checkpoint, the examination of every car on a given day with particular letter or number group in the license, or any other nondiscriminatory procedure.
DUI Checkpoint can certainly be challenged in Court. If you are charged with a DUI stemming from a DUI Checkpoint, contact your trusted DUI attorneys at The Moore Law Firm.