Mistakes in Breath Analyzer Tests –DUI Defense in New Hampshire

If you are accused of a DWI or DUI, undergoing breath analyzer test/s is a mandatory and if its results show that you exceed the legal limit then your chance of defending the DWI is almost impossible. But wait the widespread inaccurate results in the tests recently have been demonstrating that the breathalyzer tests are no fool proof tests to catch the guilt.

According to the DUI enforcement authorities, driving the vehicles that are fit with breathalyzer machines to test alcohol impairment of drivers which were improperly calibrated is leading to more than a thousand 1000 DUI convictions. On an average about 7-12% of DUI convictions are getting affected by improperly calibrated breathalyzers.

There are also doubts that officers could be mis-calibrating the breath analyzer machines resulting in erroneous results. These certainly lower our confidence on all officers administering the tests.

Some states are even permitting a retrial in case the Attorney believed that the DUI evidence was from a mis-calibrated machine, a huge sigh of relief for the DUI defendants, sure. At least some drivers who were convicted of a DUI for their no mistake can think of re-filing a DUI suit.

Philadelphia State Police Department had ordered for an investigation into the mistakes by breathalyzer machines. If the investigation points to the errors in the machine made by human hands then over 1000 plus DUI convictions could be because of human error and can be called back for a retrial.

Besides wrong manual calibration/s, the breathalyzers can also detect other ethyl-containing substances (medications) to result in false positive BAC (blood alcohol concentration) readings.

According to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) diabetics and even dieting populations show several times higher acetone levels than others. The acetone is often falsely taken as ethyl alcohol by breathalyzers (some brands that aren’t calibrated properly), giving a false positive BAC reading. Furthermore, there are some substances present in the environment that can result in a false positive BAC reading in a person. For instance oil-soluble paints, varnishes, paint solvents and removers etc., if they are loaded in heavy concentration in the environment then the breathalyzer test can show a person to possess legally intoxicated amounts of alcohol.

There are also reports of how much the results of breathalyzer test vary when all other factors are kept constant. test results vary to the tune of 12 - 15% and about 20% of tested people show higher BAC content than their blood possesses. It is ridiculous that the tests book innocent people under DUI.