If the stopping of your vehicle is improper, all of the evidence and information obtained by the State as a consequence of the stop will be suppressed by the Court which will result in the dismissal of the drunk-driving charge, pursuant to the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.
There are numerous reasons why a breathalyzer test might be unreliable. First, there is the question of whether or not the machine has been properly maintained and is in reliable operating order. There are records kept of inspections of the machine and occasionally the records reflect that the machine had been malfunctioning some time just prior to the incident, giving rise to the drunk-driving charge. While most of the police departments of New Jersey,
including the New Jersey State Police, continue to use the Breathalyzer, a machine last manufactured in the 1960s, the introduction of the Alcotest 7110 and the review of same in hearings by a retired judge, as ordered by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the case of
State v. Chun, has revealed weaknesses in the design of the Breathalyzer, including the fact that the Breathalyzer is subject to "manipulation" by the police operator. "Manipulation" is a nice way of stating the the Breathalyzer testing does not yield a print out, independently generated by the Breathalyzer, so that we must rely upon the honesty of the police officer in recording the reading indicated by a simple pointer on the machine. The review of the reliability of the new Alcotest 7110 also reveals that the Alcotest machine provides data for checking the error factor in the breath test readings, which can be useful in demonstrating that the test readings should be reduced by the error factor to find the true breath test reading.
The way to defend against manipulation of the 900 Breathalyzer test results is to demand
from the State the log of all dwi tests results for the subject Breathalyzer machine for at least
a year prior to the test date for a particular case. A statistical study of the data can reveal,
statistically, patterns of test results consistent with the habitual manipulation of test results, using
the subject machine. THERE IS A NEW DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEFENSE AGAINST
A BREATHALYZER 900 BREATH TEST READING, in New Jersey. The Canadian company which tests the ampoules used by being inserted into the breathalyzer has been providing inadequate certifications as to the reliability of the ampoules causing the readings to be inadmissible at trial.
In dwi/dui/drunk driving cases, field sobriety testing is often done incorrectly or required of
individuals who are not fit for testing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
guidelines for giving field sobriety tests cautions against requiring that the alphabet be recited
as part of the test and cautions against requiring persons who are more than sixty pounds overweight or more than sixty years of age from being required to do field sobriety tests. The heel to toe straight line walk is not used by physicians who prefer that a patient merely walk a straight line, normally. No one practices walking heel to toe and many of us can not do so, no
matter that we are totally sober. Once again, it should be remembered that many of us learned the alphabet by singing it but officers forbid the singing of the alphabet. Of course, field sobriety tests are often done in the darkened early morning hours, facing the glare of one's own headlights, with cars hurtling by, only feet away, impaired by the fatigue of working long hours.
Field sobriety testing is so influenced by factors other than the impairment caused by alcohol
that one can usualy mount a very strong defense to a dwi/dui/drunk driving charge not supported by breath testing, in New Jersey.
There are a number of medical problems which may give off indications similar to that of intoxication. Diabetes, a migraine headache, a concussion, or hypoglycemia may cause a person to act and appear in a manner similar or identical to being subject to alcohol intoxication. Blood in the mouth; the presence of alcohol in the mouth, perhaps as a consequence of a mouth deodorant; a hiatel hernia; being lactose intolerant; and diabetes also give rise to chemicals which can impact upon the breathalyzer used in the State of New Jersey and cause a false reading.
There are 1200 volatile chemicals, other than alcohol, that may naturally occur in the human body and cause a false reading on the Breathalyzer. Regurgitation of stomach contents can cause a false reading because the Breathalyzer is designed to measure the alcohol in the air in your lungs, reflecting the alcohol in your blood as opposed to the contents of your mouth and esaphagous. The Alcotest 7110 is less vulnerable to such factors because of its sophistocated
design.
The police are required to advise a person arrested for drunk driving or dwi of his or her entitlement to request the opportunity to have an independent blood test done at that person's expense. The police are also required to have in place procedures and means by which a person can have a blood test done. The failure of the police to give such advise could result in the suppression of the breathalyzer results.
There are situations where breathalyzer tests are not given, such as where injury or some other medical problem requires immediate hospital examination and treatment. In these situations, a blood sample is usually taken from a dwi suspect. Where a blood sample is analyzed for blood alcohol content, there are issues of possible contamination of the blood sample in extracting the blood sample or fermintation of the blood due to the failure to properly maintain the blood sample at a cool temperature while storing or transporting the blood sample. Additionally, it must be established that the integrity of the blood sample has not been endangered by failing to store it in a locked evidence refrigerator.
The testing method used by State Police chemists differs from the method commonly used by hospitals in analyzing a blood sample because purpose of the analysis differs. The hospital is testing the blood for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment and not for the purpose of criminal prosecution.
It is not wise to refuse the breathalyzer test because the refusal is itself an offense punishable by the same penalties as the drunk driving offense that could have been charged if the test had been taken and failed.
GO TO TRAFFIC LAW PAGE FOR JANUARY 22, 2004 CHANGES TO DWI LAW.
I often appear in Superior Court and am available for dwi related cases in Mays Landing, Hackensack, Mt. Holly, Camden, Cape May Courthouse, Bridgeton, Newark, Woodbury, Jersey City, Flemington, Trenton, New Brunswick, Freehold, Morristown, Toms River, Paterson, Somerville, Newton, Elizabeth and Belvidere.
I often appear in municipal court to represent defendants in dwi cases and I am available to appear in municipal court in Allendale, Alpine, Bergenfield, Bogota, Carlstadt, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Dumont. Elmwood Park, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Emerson, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fair Lawn, Fairview, Fort Lee, Franklin Lakes, Garfield, Glen Rock, Hackensack, Harrington Park, Hasbrouck Heights, Haworth, HIllsdale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Leonia, Little Ferry, Lodi, Lyndhurst, Mahwah, Maywood, Midland Park, Montvale, Moonachie, New Milford, North Arlington, Northvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Oradell, Palisades Park, Paramus, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Park, Ridgewood, River Edge, River Vale, Rochelle Park, Rockleigh, Rutherford, Saddle Brook, Saddle River, South Hackensack, Teaneck, Teterboro, Upper Saddle River, Waldwick, Wallington, Washington Township, Westwood, Woodcliff Lake, Wood-Ridge, Wyckoff, Belleville, Bloomfield, Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Cedar Grove, East Orange, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Irvington, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Short Hills, Montclair, Newark, Nutley, Orange, Roseland, South Orange, Verona, West Orange, Bayonne, East Newark, Guttenberg, Harrison, Hoboken, Jersey City, Kearny, North Bergen, Secaucus, Union City, Weehawken, West New York, Bloomingdale, Clifton, Haledon, Hawthorne, Little Falls, North Haledon, Passaic, Paterson, Pompton Lakes, Prospect Park, Ringwood, Totowa, Wanaque Borough, Wayne Township, West Milford, West Paterson,
Avenel, Bottomtown, Carteret, Cheesequake, Cliffwood Beach, Colonia, Cranbury, Dayton, Dunellen, East Brunswick, Edison, Englishtown, Fords, Helmetta, Highland Park, Hightstown, Hopelawn, Iselin, Jamesburg, Keasby, Kendall Park, Kingston, Laurence Harbor, Madison Township, Matawan, Menlo Park, Metuchen, Middlesex, Milltown, Monmouth Junction, Monroe, Morgan, New Brunswick, New Market, North Brunswick, Old Bridge, Parlin, Perth Amboy, Piscataway, Plainsboro, Port Reading, Princeton, Sayreville, Sewaren, South Amboy, South Brunswick, South Plainfield, South River, Spotswood,Woodbridge, Boonton, Brookside, Budd Lake, Butler, Califon, Cedar Knolls, Chatham, Chester, Convent, Denville, Dover, East Hanover, Flanders, Florham Park, Gillette, Gladstone, Green Village, Greystone, Hackettstown, Hanover, Harding Township, Ironia, Jefferson Township, Kenvil, Kinnelon, Lake Hiawatha, Lake Hapatcong, Landing, Ledgewood, Lincoln Park, Long Hill Township, Long Valley, Madison, Mendham, Meyersville, Millington, Mine Hill, Montville, Morris Plains, Morristown, Morris Township, Mount Arlington, Mount Freedom, Mount Olive Township, Mount Tabor, Mountain Lakes, Netcong, New Foundland, Oak Ridge, Parsippany, Passaic Township, Pequannock, Pine Brook, Pompton Plains, Port Morris, Pottersville, Randolph Township, Riverdale, Rock Valley, Rockaway, Roxbury Township, Stirling, Succasunna, Towaco, Victory Gardens, Washington Township, Wharton, Whippany, White Meadow Lake, Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Meadows, Fanwood, Garwood, Hillside, Kenilworth, Linden, Mountainside, Murray Hill, New Providence, Plainfield, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Springfield, Summit, Union, Westfield, and Winfield. These municipalities are in Bergen County, Essex County, Hudson County, Middlesex County, Morris County, Passaic County and Union County. I will go anywhere in New Jersey to defend you! You need to take my thirty-six years of experience to court with you!
