Des Moines man who had OWI conviction vacated by Iowa Supreme Court pleads guilty
A Des Moines man who had his operating while intoxicated conviction vacated by the Iowa Supreme Court and remanded to district court pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to probation.
Brian McGee, 21, was charged with operating while intoxicated after allegedly causing a December 2018 crash in which he and five others were injured. He pleaded guilty on July 22, 2019, and was sentenced to a year in jail, with all but seven days suspended, before he appealed.
In May 2021 the Iowa Supreme Court vacated McGee's conviction and remanded the case to district court so the court could consider a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found whenever probable cause exists to believe a driver committed drunk driving, a warrantless blood draw is almost always acceptable.
In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court carved out a narrow exception to its ruling. In cases where a driver can show their blood would not have been drawn if police were not seeking blood alcohol concentration information and that police could not have reasonably judged that a warrant application would interfere with other pressing needs or duties, a warrantless blood draw of an unconscious driver might violate the Fourth Amendment
Around 2 p.m. on On Dec. 8, 2018, medics found McGee unconscious and noted a strong smell of marijuana after he caused a two-car crash in the 1500 block of Euclid Avenue, according to last year's Supreme Court ruling. Five occupants of the other vehicle were treated at a local hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.
At the hospital, McGee was sedated and remained unconscious after the crash and could not consent to having his blood drawn.
An on-call Des Moines police officer did not attempt to get a warrant for the blood draw. The officer could have gotten a warrant, but said that at the time Des Moines Police Department policy only allowed officers to obtain warrants for blood testing non-responsive drivers for their OWI offense or if there were serious injuries or deaths in a crash, according to last year's ruling.
McGee briefly woke up around 4 p.m., a few moments after the officer requested that a nurse draw his blood. But McGee was incoherent at the time and did not respond to questions.
He fell unconscious again and had his blood drawn without his consent at 4:10 p.m. Results showed traces of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, and non-impairing metabolites.
McGee argued in district court his blood draw was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, Section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. The Iowa Supreme Court agreed with the district court that the law was followed here, but wanted the district court to consider the 2019 decision, in part because that case was decided in June 2019, one month after McGee's suppression hearing.
McGee pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to one year of probation. His attorney Corbin Gardner said McGee elected to plead guilty and get no additional jail time and probation because the exemption was narrow and the burden rested on the defendant to prove their case fit within it.
"The standard that the (Iowa) Supreme Court gave to us on remand was basically an impossible standard for us to bear or burden for us to overcome," Gardner said. "It placed the burden on the defendant to prove the lack of exigent circumstances on remand and the standard is one that I don't think any district court judge would ever find that the defendant could overcome."
Philip Joens covers public safety, city government and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-443-3347 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Man whose OWI conviction vacated by Iowa Supreme Court pleads guilty
