Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Appellate Court Rules Sobriety Checks Illegal
The controversy over the legality of sobriety checkpoints designed to spot drunk drivers is likely to continue.
On Friday, a state appellate court in Santa Ana ruled that the practice violated constitutional guarantees against unreasonable police searches.
Deputy State Atty. Gen. Jay W. Bloom said an appeal will be filed with the California Supreme Court. And the high court probably will have to sort out the controversy.
However, the Supreme Court already has before it an appeal from San Francisco in which another appellate court ruled that the sobriety checkpoints were legal.
Friday’s ruling halted the scheduled opening of “Saturday Night Alive,” a new weekly series of sobriety checkpoints by the Laguna Beach Police Department.
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