There are many problems with the way breath testing devices used in Orange DUI cases. These breath tests can be very unreliable and susceptible to attack by an Orange County DUI Attorney who understands the weakness of a these "breathalyzer" machines. DUI defense lawyers are often asked why they are taking a particular drunk driving case to trial, when a breath machine has obviously produced a reading above the legal limit.
Breath testing in DUI cases dates back to 1937, when Rolla Harger invented the "Drunkometer". This machine gave birth to an industry that has witnessed many new designs, each trying to improve on the reliability of its predecessor. However, even in our present era, every single breath-testing device is subject to mistakes. All breath-testing machines used in DUI cases make certain assumptions about the people being tested that may or may not be true. All of the drunk driving breath testing machines are subject to human error, maintenance problems, interference from outside sources such as radio frequency interference “RFI,” and internal malfunctions In all
Testing alveolar air has its problems, in that the sample does not necessarily remain constant. Temperature and breath patterns also affect the content of any given breath sample The root cause for inaccuracies in blood-alcohol testing is the mistaken belief that the people being tested all have “average” physiological attributes. In other words, the accuracy of every blood-alcohol test result is contingent upon the validity of a set of specific assumptions. To the detriment of the individual being tested, the assumptions are hardly ever correct. The likelihood that the individual being tested has “average” attributes is extremely low. For example, all breath testing machines assume that the proportion between alcohol in the breath and alcohol in the blood is 1: 2100. The BAC machine is configured to base its reading entirely on this assumption. In actuality, these proportions in an individual can differ from anywhere between 1:1300 to 1:3000 or more. Doing the math, a person who had a 1:1700 breath-to-blood ratio and a genuine blood-alcohol level of .08% would actually get a reading of .10%. This would be an “accurate” reading from a breath testing machine that compared the results with the “normal” ratio. The validity of the readings corresponds directly to the validity of the original assumption. In reality, these machines repeatedly assess an average person, only using a defendant’s breath sample. There is no regard to the defendant’s physiological individuality.
There are several breath measuring devices available on the market. They are manufactured by private companies and sold to law enforcement agencies. These varying devices come with unique characteristics and requirements for proper use and care. The improper use, testing and/or maintenance of these various devices can play a significant role in your defense. It follows that it is vitally important to select an attorney for your
The PAS:
Another defect in these “breathalyzer” type machines is that many fail to identify ethanol which is the particular type of alcohol in alcoholic beverages to the exclusion of all other chemical compounds. To use the terminology of scientists, such methods are not specific for ethyl alcohol: They will detect other compounds which are naturally occurring in the human body and report them as “alcohol!!” Thus a client with other compounds in his blood or breath could have no alcohol in his body yet still obtain a high blood alcohol reading on one of these breath reading gizmos. This problem is most noticeable in the use of infrared breath devices, such as the Alco Sensor IV, which are the most common type used in Orange County DUI cases. The technical reason these fuel cell machines make these errors is because they are not designed to detect the molecule of ethyl alcohol (ethanol), but rather only a part of that molecule — the methyl group. In other words, it is the methyl group in the ethyl alcohol compound that is absorbing the infrared light, resulting in the eventual blood-alcohol reading. Thus the machine will "detect" any chemical compound and identify it as ethyl alcohol if it contains a methyl group compound within its molecular structure. The "Breathalyzer" assumes that the methyl group is a part of an ethyl alcohol compound. The simple fact is that there are thousands of compounds that contain the methyl group. Acetone and acetaldehyde, for example, can be found on the human breath. In fact, recent studies have found that over one hundred chemical compounds can be found on the breath at any given moment in time. More important, approximately 70 to 80 percent of these compounds contain methyl groups. And the infrared breath machine will detect each of these as "ethyl alcohol". How prevalent are chemicals in the breath that can register on breath analyzing machines? Here are some common things that can give falsely high readings: Untreated Diabetics; Persons on a Weight Reduction Diet; Fasting: People on Atkins type diets; Long-term smokers are more likely to have higher blood-alcohol readings due to a greater amount of acetaldehyde in the lungs; Alcoholics can have 5 to 55 times higher levels of acetaldehyde in there breath or blood than that in nonalcoholics; Inhaling Paint and Glue Fumes; Inhaling Lacquer Fumes; Swallowing Unleaded Gasoline and; Bread Products of various types. If your Orange County DUI involved a road side breath, call Mr. Longwith today for a FREE CASE EVALUATION. (714) 879-7007.
The technology used in the stationhouse breath testing devices is slightly more reliable than the fuel cell type machines such as the Alco Sensor IV in that they do typically have slope detectors to guard against mouth alcohol contamination and they try and guard against the NON SPECIFICITY problem by using a technology referred to as Infrared spectrometry instead of fuel cells. This technology uses a quartz lamp inside the machine radiates infrared energy through the sample. The amount of energy that makes it through the sample (i.e., not absorbed by alcohol) is then measured. The greater the amount of alcohol present in the sample, the greater the absorption. Even these more stationhouse type breathalyzers like the Intoxilyzer and Datamaster can have problems if the breath device itself has not been properly maintained or operated. Even when these advanced devises are functioning properly, they have a modest but inherent margin of error that can affect the outcome of your
Just as in Blood tests, Breath testing in Orange County DUI cases are always taken some time after the driving. Blood alcohol level often rises over time. What can this mean in your Orange County DUI case? What it means is even if the results in your Orange County DUI breath test accurately reflects the true alcohol content of your blood, your case can still be successfully defended. This is because all the test result can say is that your blood contained a certain alcohol content at the time the breath test was given. It doesn’t, however, say what your blood alcohol content was at the time of driving. The two can and often are very different. Remember it is not against the law to have a BAC of .08% or above at the time your breath test was given. It is only against the law to have a BAC of .08% or above at the time you were actually driving. Because blood alcohol levels change over time, this is a critical point to understand. The prosecutor has to use a bunch of assumptions and circumstantial evidence to “guess-timate” backwards to what he thinks your true BAC was at the time of driving. An expert Orange County DUI attorney such as Randall T. Longwith can effectively challenge these assumptions and give you the best change at a successful outcome in your Orange County DUI case.
Ultimately, breath test results can be successfully challenged. When it comes to issues of breath testing in an
….because a good offense is always the best defense.
