Breath-Alcohol Testing State of the Art
Information
courtesy of Lawrence Taylor - DUIblog
All
states now have two drunk driving laws: (1) driving under the influence
of alcohol (aka "DUI", with local variations, such as
"driving while intoxicated" or "DWI"), and (2)
the so-called per se law of driving with .08% or higher blood-alcohol
concentration (BAC). Most of those arrested will be charged and
prosecuted for both offenses.
The
breath machines (commonly -- and inaccurately -- referred to as
"Breathalyzers") used to obtain the BAC are, obviously,
critical to the drunk driving case. As for the per se offense, the
only evidence of the crime is the machine: if the thing says .08%
or higher and the jury believes it, the defendant is guilty. And
even as to the DUI charge, the readings will be considered presumptive:
if the BAC is .08% or higher, the jury will be instructed by the
judge that the defendant is presumed guilty -- and he must be found
guilty unless he can prove his innocence (I've discussed this in
"Whatever Happened to the Presumption of Innocence?").
These
machines are all-important: they determine guilt or innocence. But
their manufacturers continue to assure us that they are "state
of the art". So how accurate are they? Not very.
|
