VERO BEACH — A county judge refused a defense attorney’s request to suppress the city’s use of search warrants to take blood samples in drunken driving cases, according to a court order released Monday.

Late last year, city police began using search warrants when people refused to take a Breathalyzer test. Two people were arrested, leading to defense attorney Andy Metcalf filing a court challenge with Indian River County Judge David Morgan.

But Morgan on Monday denied Metcalf’s motion. Metcalf had argued that blood couldn’t be considered property that is subject to search warrants.

“The defense has offered no good reason why blood should not be considered ‘property,’” Morgan wrote.

The state ranks third highest in the nation in people stopped for allegedly driving drunk and refusing to take a Breathalyzer test, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation report to Congress in 2008.

The first time a driver refuses a Breathalyzer, the state can take away a driver’s license for a year. Refusing during a second DUI arrest is a criminal offense, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Yet statewide, an estimated 40 percent of people refuse, compared to a national average of 22.4 percent, the reports shows.