JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming is filing a lawsuit challenging Wyoming’s 24/7 Sobriety Program and its application in Teton County.
Among numerous grievances, the suit claims regular sobriety checks are in violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
“The 24/7 Program unreasonably authorizes officers to search a person without a warrant by taking breath, urine, skin-patch or saliva tests repeatedly—sometimes twice daily—over prolonged periods of time—sometimes weeks or even months—without a recognized exception to the search warrant requirement,” stated lawyers Stephanie Amiotte and Andrew Malone for ACLU.
The lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court of Wyoming in Casper on behalf of two individuals—Alfredo Guillermo Sanchez and David Chris Ball—charged with driving under the influence, who can be placed back on the 24/7 Sobriety Program in Teton County at any time. Any other pretrial participants of the program are also included in the lawsuit.
Wyoming’s 24/7 Sobriety Program was created under state statute in 2014 as a program designed for repeat offenders of alcohol and drug-related arrests. It allows a judge to mandate a breathalyzer test up to twice a day, every day, for those awaiting trial on alcohol charges. In Teton County, it is also being used as a pretrial condition for first-time offenders following amendment of the law in 2019.
