If you’re facing drunk driving allegations, the police may have given you a breath test. If you blew over the legal limit of 0.08%, then they may use this test as evidence of impairment when your case goes to trial.
In fact, even if you’re under the legal limit, they can still use it as evidence if they can show other reasons why they believe you were impaired. For instance, if you caused an accident and then blew a 0.07%, the police may argue that the two issues are related.
But all of this assumes that the results of the breath test are accurate. Remember, these results can be used to put people behind bars for a long time and to take away fundamental freedoms that they have, such as the right to drive a motor vehicle. This suggests that the tests are very important and should always be accurate, but that may not be the case.
Why are the tests wrong?
One reason that the breath test could be wrong is simply if the officer administering it made a mistake. Maybe that officer made avoidable errors or never got the proper training in the beginning. They did give you a test, but do the results reflect your actual blood alcohol concentration?
Another reason the test could be wrong is if the device itself has been neglected. Maintenance is sometimes necessary to make sure that breath tests are working properly. Many devices also need to be calibrated to see if they are still providing accurate results. But if the police department skipped this maintenance and calibration, how can they know that the results aren’t artificially high?
These are just a few reasons why you may want to challenge evidence in your drunk driving case. Carefully take the time to look into all of your criminal defense options.