KY: DUI roadblock failed state’s well established standards

Kentucky DUI roadblock failed the standards adopted a decade ago, and the stop had to be suppressed. Some standards were complied with, but not enough to make the court comfortable with this one. Commonwealth v. Cox, 2015 Ky. LEXIS 2010 (Dec. 17, 2015):

From a bird’s-eye view of Buchanon, it is clear we strongly disfavor hastily arranged highway checkpoints. It is implicit in our analysis that without proper planning and notice, roadblocks are susceptible to the type of discretion and intrusion the Fourth Amendment exists to forbid. It is unclear to us here whether those discretion-limiting procedures were adequately performed. A focused analysis of the facts of this case in comparison to the Buchanon guidelines ultimately confirms our suspicions that the proper procedures were not in place in establishing the roadblock that ultimately led to Cox’s arrest.

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This is an admittedly difficult case where the facts simply do not fall in perfect order with the guidelines we established in Buchanon, and perfect compliance was never our intention when we announced them over a decade ago. But a closer look at Buchanon offers us additional guidance. There, we also faced a particularly difficult situation; and we declared that “we must err on the side of caution when dealing with the most fundamental of those rights granted to our citizens to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.” In circumstances where the practices and procedures employed by law enforcement are constitutionally ambiguous, it is our duty to protect individuals against the risk of potentially unreasonable seizure without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Though we do not require rigid compliance with the Buchanon guidelines, we cannot continue to soften the edges of what is constitutionally reasonable.

Nothing in our decision today should be construed to disparage Buchanon or the various Supreme Court precedents legitimizing checkpoints to purge drunk drivers from our highways. We understand the grave danger intoxicated drivers create on the roads, and we presume that law enforcement generally acts honorably in its efforts to protect innocent motorists from the recklessness of impaired drivers. But we must also secure the blessings of liberty preserved through our foundational documents. We simply cannot conclude that law enforcement adequately complied with the Buchanon factors substantially enough to render this roadblock a “reasonable” seizure performed in the absence of a warrant or individualized suspicion.