Many people have long suspected that there are sometimes issues with traditional breath tests, which are often a mainstay of what police use in order to determine if drivers are drunk or not. In fact, nearly one million Americans are arrested each and every year for drunk driving with the overwhelming number of those cases coming as the result of a positive breath test. A recent New York Times investigation found an alarming fact: those tests are often wrong. So you should defend yourself against unreliable alcohol breath tests.
Not just a one in a thousand or even a one in a hundred type situation. While supposedly these are good to the thousandth decimal point, and have been promoted that way to the point where a positive breathalyzer test all but guarantees a conviction. The problem is, as the investigation showed, is that the results were very often skewed.
In just the states of Massachusetts and New Jersey judges have been forced to throw out over 30,000 results in the past year. That’s just two states over 12 months, and it’s hard to believe they found all the cases where the results were skewed. Even with minimal investigation, thousands of tests across the United States have been invalidated throughout the United States over the last few years.
A lack of oversight and proper calibration meant many machines registered readings that were up to 40% too high. This is unacceptable and brings up serious questions about how many people have been convicted when they were in fact actually under the legal limit.
If you find yourself charged with a DUI, don’t assume there’s no hope and don’t lay down for a maximum penalty. If you or a loved one finds yourself in this situation and facing DUI charges then contact our team today for strong legal representation that will fight for you!