Four Possible Reasons Why Breathalyzer Results Can Be Inaccurate

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If you are facing a DWI charge, and breathalyzer test results are the primary piece of evidence against you, there may be a way to successfully contest the accuracy of these test results. A breathalyzer test is not always completely accurate. In fact, there are some widely recognized inaccuracies to this method of testing how much alcohol is in an individual's body.

The following are four possible scenarios that could cause a breathalyzer test to yield inaccurate results. Raising the possibility that one of these scenarios caused an inaccurate reading during your breathalyzer test could help you fight DWI charges.

The breathalyzer device was improperly calibrated at the time of the test.

A breathalyzer test needs to be repeatedly calibrated to avoid inaccurate readings. If the results of a breathalyzer test are suspicious, the device could have been malfunctioning because it was not recently calibrated.

Quizzing the police officer bringing charges against a DWI defendant about the calibration requirements of the breathalyzer equipment that was used is a great way to overturn a case. If the police officer doesn't give an accurate description of the calibration requirements, the test results are called into question and may be thrown out as evidence against the defendant. 

The individual taking the test is a diabetic with elevated amounts of ketones in his or her blood.

Diabetics sometimes have elevated levels of ketones in their blood that makes it so that their breath contains acetone. This can be detected as alcohol on a breathalyzer test. 

Diabetic defendants can use this fact to fight evidence against them from breathalyzer test results. 

The individual taking the test had the residue of alcohol leftover in his or her mouth.

Breathalyzer tests are designed to analyze how much alcohol saturation is found within an individual's lungs. Any alcoholic residue in the mouth should not affect the results.

However, alcohol residue in the mouth could lead to an excessively high breathalyzer reading if the individual taking the test had just swallowed alcohol and the residue in the mouth had not yet been washed away by saliva. Therefore, test results could show an inaccurately high blood-alcohol level in an individual who was pulled over immediately after drinking only a small amount of alcohol.

The individual was going through the absorption phase of processing alcohol.

Every individual's body absorbs alcohol at a different rate. While the body is going through the absorption phase of processing alcohol, the alcohol within his or her body is not uniformly distributed in the blood stream.

As the body absorbs alcohol, an individual can blow a misleadingly high breathalyzer test results because alcohol is unevenly distributed throughout his or her blood. For more information or to consult a DWI attorney about your case, make an appointment with a firm such as The Ryan Law Firm

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25 July 2016

Working With Your Attorney

Few things are more frustrating than being accused of a crime that you didn't commit. I found myself in this difficult situation a few years ago when I was with a friend who broke the law. However, I knew that I didn't do anything, which is why I hired an experienced criminal attorney to help me out. He carefully reviewed my case, talked with me about what court would be like, and helped me to wrap my head around the different punishments I might face. He helped to prove my innocence, and I decided to set up this blog to help other people to understand the importance of working with a professional.