Topic: DUI – Refusal of Chemical Testing – Birchfield – Mandatory Sentence – Alleyne
Summary: The mandatory minimum sentence given by the Venango County Court of Common Pleas for a DUI chemical test refusal was unconstitutional.
1.) Defendants cannot be given a mandatory minimum sentence for refusing to submit to a warrantless blood test.
2.) A defendant who refused a blood test cannot be subject to enhanced sentencing based on the refusal to submit to a breath test unless the question about the breath test refusal has been answered by the jury.
Commonwealth v. Monarch J-76-2018
