Challenging Breathalyzer Results in DC
A skilled DUI attorney in DC is going to have the best information regarding breathalyzer tests in DC, including what can be used to challenge your test and whether submitting to a breathalyzer test can ever be in your favor. To learn more about your options following a DUI charge, and to understand your rights, you should contact and consult with a DC DUI lawyer as soon as possible.
Information Used to Challenge
DC DUI defense attorneys should always inspect the reliability of the government’s breath score. What that means is inspecting calibration records and inspecting maintenance records and ensuring that the machine used is a reliable and properly maintained machine that will produce a reliable record. However, the reliability of the machine itself is only one source of a possible challenge to a Breathalyzer score.
Other sources of challenges include a police officer procedure for collecting a breath sample, if a police officer is found to have not completed the proper procedures which can include a requirement to have a twenty-minute observation period prior to submitting a breath sample, then that can allow defense attorney to challenge the results of a breath test. It can also include the possibility that a person may have had certain objects in their mouth such as or any objects may also have alcohol in it like breath strips or any dental devices that may have captured excessive residual mouth alcohol. A person in that situation may also have provided a sample that a DUI defense attorney can challenge that it’s not being an accurate reflection of the defendant’s blood alcohol content at the time that they were driving.
Submitting a Breath Test
Providing a breath sample can sometimes be to a person’s advantage, but not always. In DC, a person who provides a breath sample where the resulting breath alcohol content is relatively low, usually around a .08 or .09, may be eligible for certain favorable resolutions that could result in their charges being dismissed. It is not always easy for a person to tell whether or not their breath alcohol content or blood alcohol content is going to be right around a .08 or .09, but for the most part if a person has only had a drink or two and maybe has not had anything to drink in a certain period of time in excess of two hours or so, then that person’s breath alcohol content maybe low enough to make them eligible for certain favorable negotiated options that could result in their DUI being dismissed.
However, if a person provides a breath sample and the resulting alcohol content is .20 or higher, even a first offender would be eligible for mandatory jail time that a judge would not have the discretion to reduce.