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DUI Defense: Attacking the breath test in California

November 24, 2015

Many police officers will evaluate a driver for alcohol or drug impairment at the time of any traffic stop in Los Angeles or after an accident. For example, if you are stopped for not wearing a seatbelt, a trained Los Angeles police officer, a CHP officer, or any other law enforcement officer, will observe and note if you can be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He will notice any smells of alcohol or marijuana, look at your eyes to see if they are red and see if your speech is slurred. Drunk driving attorneys in Los Angeles specialize in defending people who are pulled over without a good reason. Los Angeles DUI attorneys will fight these cases by filing motions to dismiss. But even if police can come up with a good reason for the stop, Los Angeles DUI attorney can fight your case at trial by trying to show that DUI breath test is not accurate.

If you were arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles, you were asked to give a sample of your blood or breath. If you agreed to provide a breath sample, you were probably taken to a police station where you blew into a machine to measure your blood alcohol level. There are several machined used by different police agencies in Los Angeles county. These machines sometimes use infrared light or sometimes use a fuel cell technology (making electricity) to measure amount of alcohol in person’s breath.

The breath machines are not accurate and have a margin of error that can be as high as .02% in some DUI breath test. That means that a .08% blood alcohol level can lower by .02%, and equal to.06% because the alcohol testing machines are very inaccurate. The prosecutor can argue that your blood alcohol level can be higher by .02%, but all evidence that can helpful or hurtful to you, must be used to help you. Armed with law and science, best DUI attorney Los Angeles can make sure you can fight your case in court.

Attorneys in our office can show to the jury that breath alcohol machines can give wrong results on your DUI breath test and have a .08% BAC in your breath is not true level of alcohol in your blood.