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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