Philadelphia flunked its own breathalyzer test recently. A bad breath testing machine resulted in hundreds of people getting convicted even though the breath test machine was inaccurate. From the story:
Dozens of DUI cases in Philadelphia are set to be re-tried because of a bad breathalyzer, officials said on Wednesday.
Apparently, one breathalyzer used by police was showing incorrect blood-alcohol levels, MyFoxPhilly reports.
The district attorney’s office says in cases where people were found guilty solely because of the test, they will get a new trial.
In cases where other evidence was obtained, such as witness testimony or blood test, those defendants would not be reevaluated.
The problem could affect about 200 convictions.
So, I don’t know who it is that gets to decide which wrongly convicted people get a new trial and which ones don’t, but it sounds like 200 people might get justice, even though they have probably already done some jail time, been through treatment, and spent time on probation, not to mention losing their driver’s licenses.
How do we know that the machines used to test the breath of arrested persons are accurate in Kansas DUI cases? Well, the only hope is for Kansas DUI attorneys to demand to see all of the documentation concerning the breathalyzer machine. This includes the maintenance logs, calibration logs and testing logs in each and every case, as well as the certifications for the machine and operator. The Kansas Department of Health & Environment, the agency in charge of promulgating regulations concerning breath tests in Kansas, has just recently completely watered down all of the standards for Kansas breath testing. This effort was for the sole purpose of making it easier to get breath tests admitted and to make problems with breath testing harder to be identified and resolved. It is of utmost importance that a Kansas DUI lawyer obtain all of the records, and that he or she knows what to look for in that paperwork, and what to do with any information that might come to light.