Libertyville Women Files Suit Against Lake County’s DUI Crackdown

A Libertyville women, Cheryl Yachnin, has filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Lake County’s “no-refusal weekend” program. The program allows police to obtain search warrants for suspected drunken drivers who refuse to take a breath test. Prosecutors and judges are on call to issue search warrants requesting the tests be done under penalty of contempt of court if the suspect continues to refuse.

Yachnin was found not guilt of driving under the influence of alcohol in 2008. She spent 13 hours in Lake County jail after refusing to submit to a Lake County Judge’s order to have her blood drawn by police. Her criminal defense attorney filed the suit in U.S District Court asking for the county’s “no-refusal weekend” law enforcement events be declared a violation of federal and state constitutions.

The criminal contempt charge against her was thrown out of court in October 2009.

The lawsuit asks that Lake County refrain from holding “no-refusal weekends,” and request the driving records of any person charged or convicted of DUI during the 2008 program be expunged.

This is the first lawsuit filed challenging the constitutionality of “no-refusal” in Lake County. Kane County has also adopted this program and has been challenged twice, but both lawsuits were dismissed.

Woman exonerated after arrest sues over Lake Co.’s DUI crackdown,www.dailyherald.com, September 2, 2010