Mississippi DUI Lawyers Know Not to Rely on Breath Tests
February 26, 2008
Here in Mississippi the police and prosecutors want you to think that just because you might have blown over .08 on the intoxilizer you are guilty of a DUI. But this just isn’t true. There are several things that could cause an improper reading. Among these are; a damaged breathalyzer, a machine that is not properly calibrated or the officer could have just used it incorrectly. As Mississippi DUI lawyers it’s our duty to our clients to make sure that all of these issues are looked into. We want to make sure that we give you the best possible defense in your Mississippi DUI case.
The following article shows where eleven dui arrests were thrown out because of faulty machines.
EAST WENATCHEE — A prosecutor’s decision to throw out breath-test evidence in 11 DUI cases in Douglas County could affect several DUI cases in Chelan County as well.
Chelan County Deputy Prosecutor Allen Blackmon said breath-test evidence for between nine and 11 DUI cases, dating to as far back as last summer, could be thrown out. However, the cases can still be prosecuted without breath-test evidence.
This stems from a Feb. 20 Douglas County District Court hearing during which Douglas County Deputy Prosecutor Gordon Edgar agreed not to use the breath-test evidence for 11 Douglas County DUI cases because of a possible problem with the machine used to get the results.
The results were obtained using one of two machines at Chelan County Regional Justice Center. Steve Woods, one of the attorneys who presented the motion that the results not be used as evidence, said a solution used to certify one of the machines was not properly prepared.
The motion was the result of a ruling in a King County case last month in which three judges threw out breath-test results in eight DUI cases due to problems at the State Patrol’s toxicology lab.
Ted Vosk, one of the attorneys who argued the King County case, was one of several attorneys who argued the Douglas County case. He argued that because the solution was not properly prepared, the results were not admissible in court, said Woods.
On Friday, a hearing in Chelan County District Court during which a motion was going to be made to suppress breath-test evidence for the same reason was rescheduled to April 9.
Blackmon said he wants to get the facts straight from the source before deciding not to use the evidence in any Chelan County cases.
“It’s possible we could have the same results here because both Douglas and Chelan counties use the same machines, but I want to talk to the toxicologists myself and get the information about the machines and their certification firsthand before I make any decisions,” Blackmon said Monday morning.
Woods said he believes prosecutors in Douglas County will still pursue the charges against the 11 DUI suspects without the breath-test evidence.
He said the prosecution’s decision to not admit the evidence could affect the results of every breath test taken at that machine between December 2006 and December 2007, the period between certifications.
“It’s possible that more than these 11 cases were affected. Right now we’re looking at cases to see if there are others that might be impacted,” Woods said.
source: The Wenatche World
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