Thursday, July 29, 2010

From the category archives:

Breath and Blood Testing

Barone Defense Firm Earns Another Not Guilty!

December 28, 2009

Barone Defense Firm Senior Trial Attorney Michael Boyle inaugurated the new 63rd (2nd division) encompassing the cities of E. Grand Rapids, Lowell and the Townships of Grand Rapids, Ada, Cascade, Vergennes, Lowell, Bryon, Gaines, Caledonia and Bowne) with its first not guilty verdict on December 21, 2009. The facts of the case were as follows: [...]

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Radio Frequency Can Cause Falsely High Breath Test Results

December 21, 2009

In reviewing videotapes of our client’s DUI arrests we often see cell phones being used in the booking room at the same time that the breath test is being administered.  The problem is that cell phones create radio waves, and these waves can interfere with the breath test.  Here is a videotape regarding this problem.  [...]

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Violation of Breath Testing Adminstrative Rules Might Lead to Suppression of Results

December 1, 2009

The Michigan administrative rules for breath testing require that the breath test operator in a drunk driving case observe the suspect continuously for 15 minutes prior to administering the breath test. The reason the 15 minute rule exists is because it takes about 15 minutes for mouth alcohol to evaporate.  If mouth alcohol exists then [...]

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What do Global Warming and Drunk Driving Defense Have in Common?

December 1, 2009

Answer: Scientists involved in the prosecution of drunk and drugged driving and global warming both use science and scientific principles to make their case.  Some also believe that both misuse science and hide the truth in order to mislead the public. Regarding global warming this point is made in an article entitled Secrecy in science is a [...]

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Prosecutors Find Operating Under Influence of Drugs Cases Difficult to Prove

November 25, 2009

In Michigan more people are prosecuted each year for the charge of operating under the influence of drugs.  These charges continue to be difficult for prosecutors to prove.  This is because unlike alcohol, there are no legal limits for drugs. In Michigan, there are two ways to prove the charge of OWI – Drugs.  The [...]

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Hospital Bans DUI Blood Tests

November 18, 2009

In Michigan nearly all blood testing is done by one central lab run by the Michigan State Police.  This “whole blood” testing is performed at the State Lab using a process called headspace gas chromatography (GC). Rarely in Michigan do DUI lawyers see non-whole blood or “serum” testing.  If serum testing is performed in Michigan, [...]

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DUI Blood Testing by Gas Chromatography

November 12, 2009

Chapter Two of Defending Drinking Drivers (Barone/James Publishing) covers chemical testing. This chapter has been nearly completely re-written for the 2010 update.  A portion of the newly updated section on gas chromatography follows: The process of gas chromatography involves the use of an instrument called a gas chromatograph (GC) to separate and analyze compounds that [...]

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Why DUI Defense Experts are Feared by the State

October 18, 2009

Those who are in power have always loathed and feared others who have the ability to challenge them philosophically or scientifically. Jesus is an early historical example of this idea. He was openly critical of Palestine’s Roman rulers and accused the ruling class of hypocrisy and injustice.  To the ruling class Jesus was a pariah.  For [...]

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Will Technology End Drunk Driving?

October 17, 2009

As fast as technology has moved in the past 20 years it’s a wonder it’s even possible to drive drunk today. One would think that governments everywhere would have required car manufacturers to install something in cars that would disable them if the driver was drunk. The problem is that this is not such an [...]

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Fraudulent Breath Tests Lead to As Many as 4000 Wrongful Drunk Driving Convictions

October 12, 2009

The lynchpin of Michigan drunk driving prosecution is a reliable breath testing program.  Prosecutors have big problems when this reliability is legitimately called into question. This is exactly what has happened recently in Texas where it is reported that between 1200 and 4000 breath tests were fraudulently verified. According to the Huston Chronicle a Department [...]

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Meaning of “INTERFERENCE DETECTED” in DUI Breath Testing

October 9, 2009

Michigan exclusively uses the DataMaster to measure the breath alcohol of all persons arrested for drunk driving.  The DataMaster operates on the scientifically accepted principle of absorption of infrared energy. Michigan is about to put into service a new DataMaster called the DataMaster DMT. The analytical portion of the DMT is essentially identical to the [...]

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Blood Testing for Drugs Using Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS)

October 8, 2009

The number of blood tests being conducted in Michigan has expanded manifold in recent years.  In fact, in the six year period between 1994 and 2000 the number of blood tests for drugs in Michigan increased from 859 to 2346.  This number has probably at least doubled again during the last nine years. One reason [...]

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Thousands of Breath Tests Improperly Admitted in Michigan DUI Trials

October 7, 2009

In a Michigan drunk driving case it is typical for the breath test results to be entered into evidence based solely on the testimony of the breath test operator.  The precedent “foundation” for the admission of the breath test results usually includes only the admission of the simulator logs.  According to Michigan’s administrative rules governing breath [...]

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In DUI Breath Testing a “Long Blow” Can Falsely Raise Result

September 20, 2009

You’ve just been arrested for drunk driving and the police officer asks you to blow “long and steady into the machine until told to stop.” Why did the drunk driving task force officer use that peculiar language?  Well, it may just be that the officer is trying to justify his decision to arrest you for [...]

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Five Reasons Retrograde Extrapolation Should Not Be Allowed In DUI Cases

September 18, 2009

I have written previously in this blog about the unreliability of retrograde extrapolation in drunk driving cases.   This is an important topic because state experts in drunk driving cases often will come into court and try to convince the jury that the driver’s blood alcohol at the time of the driving was higher than at [...]

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