Colorado v. Ackerman
Annotate this CaseThe State filed an interlocutory appeal of a trial court's order suppressing the results of a blood draw taken from defendant-appellee Travis Ackerman. At the hearing, the trial court found that a warrant was required before the police could order a blood draw and that the police lacked exigent circumstances that would justify the involuntary, warrantless blood draw under the Fourth Amendment. The State appealed on the issue of whether the facts of the case constituted exigent circumstances. The Supreme Court held that under the specific facts of this case, exigent circumstances existed: police were still investigating the scene of the crime and were not finished preparing the affidavit for a warrant they learned that the hospital personnel were taking the unconscious and injured defendant for the medical procedures that could alter his blood-alcohol content. Under the totality of the circumstances, these exigent circumstances made it impractical for the police to obtain a search warrant and justified the blood draw. Accordingly, the Court reversed the trial court's suppression order and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.