Answer: As far as what constitutes a refusal to take a state’s test whether it be a breath test or a blood test, it could be something as simple as stating, “No, I don’t want to take your test,” or it could be refusal by conduct, where, let’s say somebody’s taking the breath test, and they’re not really blowing into the instrument or they’re trying to blow out the side of their mouth or something, or putting their tongue over it, inflating their cheeks or something like that to where they’re really trying not to participate and give a good sample. So that could be refusal by conduct.
Or, it could be strictly silence, where the officer’s asking if they want to take the test, and the person just sits there and doesn’t say anything, and the officers will consider that to be a refusal by silence. There’s actually case law that says when they read implied consent, all it takes is a simple “yes” or “no.” And so anything else would essentially be a refusal to take the test.
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