State Supreme Court Rules on Car Seizures in New Mexico DWI Cases

Albuquerque could start seizing cars from motorists not convicted of a crime.

The state Supreme Court refused to hear a legal challenge to a program designed to seize vehicles from motorists arrested for driving while intoxicated in New Mexico. That allowed a trial court ruling to stand, thus ending the legal challenges to a controversial plan.

In 2005 the Albuquerque City Council said wanted to raise $300,000 in annual revenue by seizing vehicles in DWI cases, even before the driver was convicted of a crime. The ACLU filed suit saying that it is not illegal to drink and drive, as long as the motorist’s blood alcohol content remained below the limit for intoxication, and that the Albuquerque ordinance imposed punishment before a driver was found guilty in a court of law. That, they said, could potentially impact all motorists who drink but are not legally intoxicated.

A lower court agreed that the Albuquerque program violated constitutional due process, but said the ACLU suit was too vague and it would not overturn the ordinance simply on the possibility of abuse. The unanimous ruling by the high court echoed that sentiment, saying that, while the issues raised in the ACLU suit are serious and have constitutional ramifications, the question of due process is best addressed by a specific act of enforcement of the ordinance. It said if “the city does, in fact, seize and forfeit a vehicle based solely on probable cause for the arrest, regardless of whether the owner is ever convicted of (New Mexico) DWI, then the vehicle owner will have the concrete injury, the motive … and the opportunity to mount an effective challenge to the ordinance.”

The city of Albuquerque is clear to begin its vehicle seizure program at any time.

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