대법 “동의 없는 혈액 채취, 음주운전 증거로 못 써”…무죄 확정

The Supreme Court of Korea has upheld the acquittal of ㄱ씨 in a drunk driving case, ruling that an illegal blood test was used as evidence against him. On September 25th, the court confirmed the lower court's decision of acquittal, which was made on September 9th. ㄱ씨 was accused of driving under the influence on February 2022 in Uiseong-gu, Daejeon, after an estimated 250 meters of driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.129%, well above the legal limit for license suspension.

During the police surveillance, breathalyzer tests were conducted for over 30 minutes without yielding results. Frustrated, the police obtained ㄱ씨's consent and proceeded with a blood test, which confirmed the high alcohol level. ㄱ씨's legal team argued that the police did not inform him of his right to refuse the blood test, making it a non-voluntary action. The Supreme Court agreed with this argument, acknowledging that the use of blood tests as evidence requires the defendant's voluntary consent.

The court emphasized that the police only presented the option of either taking a breathalyzer test or a blood test, leaving ㄱ씨 unaware of his right to refuse blood collection. As a result, the court ruled that the blood sample collected from ㄱ씨 was obtained unlawfully and could not be used as evidence for his drunk driving conviction.