Breath And Blood Tests
Blood Tests – Alcohol Breath Analyzer – BAC
As a founding member of the National College of DUI Defense, and with a national reputation as a lecturer on drunk driving defense techniques in court, Arizona DUI defense lawyer Mark Weingart knows more about the science that supports blood alcohol content (BAC) testing than most of the police officers who administer blood alcohol breath tests.
Arizona law provides that the determination of BAC can be based on testing of the suspect’s blood, breath, or urine, and that a person suspected of drunk driving has already given implied consent to the test.
How is the test chosen?
It’s up to the law enforcement officer to choose which test to administer: in Tempe, and Glendale, the police usually use the Intoxilyzer 8000 for an alcohol breath test. In many East Valley communities, including Scottsdale, Mesa, Gilbert, and Chandler, the police prefer to administer a blood test, either at a hospital or at the police station. DPS and the Sheriff’s office, do both. Police stations are not ideal clinical settings by any means, and police officers are not trained nurses. However, Arizona law does permit a police officer/phlebotomist to draw your blood.
How we can help you:
Both standard methods of blood alcohol testing are highly controversial, and we have extensive experience both in challenging the reliability of the tests themselves and the results of a particular test on the basis of many technical variables, ranging from whether you wear dentures or hiccupped (leading to false positive “mouth alcohol” readings) to the presence of anticoagulants in your blood that can artificially inflate the alcohol reading.
Contrary to popular belief, there are mistakes with blood alcohol testing. It is not fool proof and has flaws. We know those flaws and employ experts to testify to this.
With respect to the use of the Intoxilyzer 8000, the manufacturer’s refusal to release its source codes make an accurate interpretation of test results very difficult, even to the point of making its use improper because of the defendant’s lack of opportunity to attack the incriminating evidence. Several of our attorneys played a leading role in exposing the shortcomings of the earlier Intoxilyzer 5000, with the result that nearly 1,500 alcohol breath test readings were kept out of evidence in DUI cases.
For further information about our commitment to state of the art DUI defense on technical blood alcohol breath test issues in Arizona, contact the Weingart Law Firm in Tempe.
