Just so that no one accuses me of exaggeration when I alleged in a recent post that, unfortunately, there is frequent cheating, fudging and falsification when it comes to the quality control and accuracy calibration of breath testing devices, here is another example of it. This story comes from Houston, Texas where the person in charge of inspecting and assuring the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer breath test machine has been found to have been faking her reports. Thousands of DUI cases have been thrown into question. Many people have already been found guilty and gone to jail based on these false results. Lives, families and careers have almost certainly been derailed because of DUI convictions and driver’s license suspensions that were based, at least in part, on breath test results from these untrustworthy machines.
It is not just me offended by this sort of fraud. From the story:
The news was troubling for the police departments whose work might be undone.”It’s sickening,” said Clute Police Chief Mark Wicker. “It’s very disturbing.”
Troy McKinney, a Houston lawyer who specializes in DWI appeals, said this is especially tragic given that there are already questions about the science of these tests and a DWI conviction can be career changing for people.
As I said before in the posts here and here, this is not an indictment of all law enforcement or all breath tests, but it does reinforce what I also last posted here, that Kansas DUI lawyers most never take for granted that the science is up to snuff. It always must be looked into because this does happen far too often.
UPDATE: The breath test technician has been charged with a felony for faking the breath test calibration and accuracy tests. The story is here. And here.