New Mexico Supreme Court

State v. Vargas

October 5, 20172017 NMSC 29

Summary

The New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ reversal of Vargas’s aggravated DWI conviction, holding that Birchfield applies retroactively, that the appellate court may sua sponte consider an unpreserved Fourth Amendment issue, and that Vargas cannot be punished for refusing a warrantless blood test absent probable cause and exigent circumstances.