Breath Test for DUI California
February 17, 2016
The alcohol breath test is not as reliable as the police want them to be. We are all fall under the impression that an alcohol breath test conducted by a police officer and showing that you are above Legal Blood Alcohol Level means that you are drunk driving and should be arrested before someone gets hurt. Yet, what gives the DUI Breathalyzer its credibility is not entirely clear. Does it deserve the trust placed into it by the Los Angeles DUI police officers or its ordinary citizens? Here, we are addressing some of the issues with alcohol breath tests and why they can be inaccurate and lead to wrongful convictions. Upon a Los Angeles DUI arrest, the police may ask you […]
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June 2, 2014
A history of DUI Breathalyzer device, commonly used by law enforcement to prosecute DUI cases in Los Angeles, can be traced to early 1900s, when it was first noted that alcohol level on breath of impaired individuals is correlated to the alcohol level in blood. The ratio of correlation is now assumed to be a constant and equivalent to 2,100. However, the science development in recent years put into question the reliability of DUI breathalyzer because the correlation of blood alcohol level to breath alcohol level is not constant between different individuals and it also can vary in same person from day to day or hour to hour. Since the first DUI breathalyzer was used by law enforcement in 1938 in […]
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March 15, 2014
This is a little technical post but very helpful in some Los Angles DUI cases. Every single DUI arrest in Los Angeles (and the rest of California) involves an eventual request to consent to DUI chemical test. Los Angeles Police officers (and peace officers of other agencies), after arresting a driver suspected of drunk driving, will tell a driver that he has to submit to DUI chemical test of his blood test or breath test. In other words, they are asking the driver to consent to search of his body for evidence of crime! This is a search and seizure (AKA 4th amendment) issue that can and need to be litigated. Why? Because not all consents are valid! US Supreme Court […]
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June 27, 2013
A true measure of alcohol in a person’s body is done by analyzing the blood. However, most Los Angeles DUI cases do not involve blood analysis. Insead, most persons arrested for DUI in Los Angeles provide a breath sample. To convert breath sample to a blood alcohol level, a machine (such as EC/IR, or a DamaMaster DMT) will determine number of alcohol particles in a person’s breath sample and multiply it by 2100. Thus, it is assumed that 2100 cubic centimeters of breath will contain the same amount of alcohol as 1 cubic centimer of blood. This is based on legal assumption that all person have the same conversion ration between breath and blood concentration of alcohol regardless of age, […]
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February 5, 2012
A DUI lawyer in Los Angeles can use science to attack the reliability of breath results. Some Los Angeles DUI lawyers have background in science, others learned enough from books and experts. The prosecutor, as part of his case, will use an expert to interpret the blood results and opine on the impairment. Defense can either attack the testimony of the People’s expert or/and can call its own expert who will opine that there is no impairment and/or that the alcohol level at the time of driving is below the statutory .08%. Short of calling your own expert, Los Angeles DWI lawyers need to know basic scientific articles discussing science behind alcohol impairment and level of alcohol in blood. Because […]
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January 30, 2012
Any DUI prosecution depends on blood or breath test results that will be used to prosecuted a DUI case. DUI test results then will be presented to the court as evidence of guilt. DUI lawyer Los Angeles knows how to defend against DUI test results and will prepare a defense of DUI test. Knowledgeable Los Angeles DUI lawyers can undermine results of a DUI test using scientific approach to DUI. Depending on the circumstances of a DUI arrest in Los Angeles, DUI test results can be very defensible. There are number of approaches that can be taken by drunk driving defense lawyer against both DUI blood test and DUI breath test. For example, Los Angeles DUI Attorney can question the […]
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