State v. Garcia

Keasler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Hervey, Alcala, Richardson, Newell, and Walker, JJ., joined.

Following a catastrophic car crash, Appellee Joel Garcia was taken to a nearby hospital. Law-enforcement officers, suspecting that Garcia was intoxicated and concerned that he might soon receive an intravenous treatment, took a sample of his blood without a warrant. The State claimed that this action was necessitated by "exigent circumstances,"1 but the trial judge disagreed, suppressing the blood evidence. Deferring to the trial judge's findings of fact, we hold that he did…