Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. A silver lining in the District of Columbia’s breathalyzer debacle is that it may further convince judges and jurors that breathalyzers amount to junk science, or else that their results are highly unreliable, due to unreliability of the...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Earlier this year, I blogged about Washington, D.C.’s breathalyzer machine debacle. This week, D.C. officials admitted that almost 400 people were convicted with the inaccurate machines. Worse, half of them went to jail, usually for at least five days,...
Recently, I posted a lawyer listserv message asking about Maryland-licensed alcohol education programs that will not do a knee-jerk at a 0.15 breathalyzer test result to draw the line between a six-session (two hours per session) and twenty-six-session alcohol education program. When a colleague responded...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Particularly now that Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), has become firmly entrenched in the Constitutional landscape, Sixth Amendment challenges to machine-based speed calculations should be more persuasive than ever when the people who calibrated the machine do not...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. An officer arrested a man for DWI on private property, and was not sure whether he would mention the possibility of taking a breathalyzer test, not knowing whether Virginia's implied consent law for taking a breathalyzer test applied....
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Last August, I addressed merger of DUI and DWI per se. As an update, last January, Maryland's intermediate appellate court ruled that "when a defendant is convicted of both DUI and DUI per se, arising out of the same...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. On March 3, I blogged about attacking horizontal gaze nystagmus testimony. Thanks to JR for commenting to that blog entry with a link to Illinois v. McKown (IL, Feb. 19, 2010) which in part says: "A properly trained police...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Horizontal gaze nystagmus tests are junk science, but not all judges have the same view. Here are some items to consider in attacking horizontal gaze nystagmus tests: “The cases and literature indicate that, in addition to alcohol, many...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Breathalyzer tests are junk science. At best, breathalyzer machines should only be used to determine whether to obtain a more thorough blood alcohol screening, through a blood test (or a balloon test, according to one forensic chemist whom I...
Forensic toxicologists and forensic chemists are common experts for challenging the accuracy and reliability of breathalyzer tests. Sometimes an engineer should be consulted for providing analysis and testimony about the breathalyzer, including testing the breathalyzer with such equipment as an oscilloscope. One engineer who does such...
Almost hitting another vehicle is not legal grounds to stop the suspect vehicle, absent sufficiently stated reasonable articulable suspicion for negligent or reckless driving. Lewis v. Maryland, 398 Md. 349, 920 A.2d 1080 (2007). ...
Thanks to the Kavinoky law firm for posting this list of expert witnesses for drunk driving defense. Included in that list is Patrick Demers, whom I have retained several times as an expert witness. ...
NOTE: This blogposting is being re-uploaded, after some WYSYWIG problems kept delivering faulty formatting. The jurisdictions where I practice criminalize both drunk driving (DUI) and driving with a blood alcohol content over 0.08 (DWI). If a defendant is convicted of both, the defense lawyer should be...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. If you are going to drive after drinking alcohol, why agree to perform the junk science "tests" requested by a cop suspecting you of drunk driving? Ironically, today Maryland's highest court mandated expert testimony to present evidence on...
Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Perhaps Connecticut DWI defense lawyer James O. Ruane overstates the matter by calling the Intoxilyzer 5000 KKK in a box.Certainly, breath testing for blood alcohol content is an oppressive junk science system that is perpetuated by court rulings...
Bill of Rights (From public domain.) Who wants police to be permitted to pin down a drunk driving suspect to draw blood? What medical professional in his or her right mind would agree to draw the pinned-down suspect's blood? Then again, will some police just take the...
Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.) One day I asked a prosecutor if she feels any discomfort going against unrepresented criminal defendants, most of whom are not poor enough to qualify for court-appointed counsel but for whom the financial struggle is too great or impossible...
Image from Virginia Forestry Dept's website. In Virginia and Washington, D.C., the law says that drivers in those states impliedly consent to have their blood alcohol levels tested if the police have sufficient grounds for seeking such tests. In that regard, here are important relevant Virginia statutory...
Bill of Rights (From public domain.) Field sobriety tests are junk science administered by cops who have no expertise to administer them, because junk science precludes having expertise. See how poorly is the performance when asking even a fully sober and awake person to follow unfamiliar instructions...
When it comes to drunk driving prosecutions, blood alcohol content test results are subject to attack from all sides, including attacks on the accuracy of the test results in the first place. Moreover, judges and juries need to be educated that it is not a truism...
