The Civil Nature of Implied Consent Violations

The most recent cases holding that implied consent violations are civil are:


State v MacKinnon 2011 Tenn Crim App Lexis 228 and
In MacKinnon the implied consent "conviciton" was reversed, because a jury decided the case instead of the Judge. Juries in Criminal cases decide whether a crime was committed, not a civil violation.

State v Prater, 2010 Tenn Crim App Lexis 967

In Prater the Court stated, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-406 with certain exceptions, violating the implied consent statute is not a crime but a civil wrong: “If the court finds that the driver violated [the provisions of the implied consent statute], . . . the driver shall not be considered as having committed a criminal offense; however, the court shall revoke the license of such driver . . . .” Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-406(4)(A).