South Dakota v. Neville (459 U.S. 553)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 22, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 459 U.S. 553 · 103 S. Ct. 916
- Decided
- February 22, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757 (1966), held that a State could force a defendant to submit to a blood-alcohol test without violating the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. We now address a question left open in Schmerber, supra, at 765, n. 9, and hold that the admission into evidence of a defendant’s refusal to submit to such a test likewise does not offend the right against self-incrimination. I Two Madison, South Dakota, police officers stopped respondent’s car after they saw him fail to stop at a stop sign. The officers asked respondent for his driver’s license and asked him to get out of the car. As he left the car, respondent staggered and fell against the car to support himself. The officers smelled alcohol on his breath. Respondent did not have a driver’s license, and informed the officers that it was revoked after a previous driving-while-intoxicated conviction. The officers asked respondent to touch his finger to his nose and to walk a straight line. When respondent failed these field sobriety tests, he was placed under arrest and read his Miranda rights. Respondent acknowledged that he understood his rights and agreed to talk without a lawyer present. App. 11. Reading from a printed card, the officers then asked respondent to submit to a blood-alcohol test and warned him that he…
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