In
most countries of the world, an accusation by the State forces
the accused to prove himself innocent. In America, however, the
presumption of innocence has always been a fundamental part of
our rights as a free people. This basic protection against the
power of the government has been recognized as flowing from the
5th, 6th and 14th Amendments to our Constitution. As the United
States Supreme Court has said, "The principle that there
is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted
law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the
foundation of the administration of our criminal law." Coffin
v. U.S., 156 U.S. 432 (1895)....
Let’s
assume you have been arrested for drunk driving, and a Breathalyzer
gave a reading of .09% blood-alcohol concentration (BAC). You
will be charged with two crimes: (1) driving under the influence
of alcohol (DUI), and (2) driving with over .08% BAC. Let’s
look at the .08% charge first.....
[Discussion
of legal presumptions that the machine is accurate and that the
officer administered the test correctly.]
...So
much for the .08% charge. At least the defendant is presumed innocent
of the DUI charge, right? Wrong. The laws of most states create
a presumption of guilt: if the Breathalyzer reads .08% BAC or
higher, the jury will be instructed that the defendant is legally
presumed to be under the influence of alcohol. That’s right:
the defendant is presumed guilty. This is called a "rebuttable
presumption" -- that is, the defendant can try to rebut this
presumption with other evidence (what other evidence?). Put another
way, he is presumed guilty and the burden is on him to prove his
innocence. Just like in third world countries.
Ok,
but the law says it’s illegal to have .08% BAC when driving
-- not when tested an hour later at the police station. If, for
example, a person has a drink or two before driving, the alcohol
will not be absorbed into the system for an hour or so: it will
not be in his system while driving, but will be reaching peak
BAC levels when tested an hour later at the station. So how does
the prosecution prove what the BAC was at the time of driving?
Easy:
the law again facilitates conviction by presuming that the BAC
was the same, so long as the test was taken within three hours
of driving....Well, now, that’s really amazing. The Legislature
simply passed a law against scientific truth. We can absolutely
say, with scientific certainty, that the BAC will NOT be the same
three hours after the test.....
