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Debating DWI breath test accuracy from 'The Defense Perspective'

According to Houston attorney Mark Bennett, there are only two times when you should refuse a breathalyzer test at a traffic stop: When you're guilty and when you're innocent. The reason innocent people should refuse, he says, is the machine's high error rate (up to 25%) and the risk of a false positive.It was poor accuracy in breathalyzer tests that first turned this blog's attention toward the reality that accuracy appears optional in many forensic science endeavors, with error rates of 10% or more routinely accepted in a variety of forensic fields.Indeed, in some states breathalyzer results must be accepted in court "regardless of whether the particular breathalyzer was broken, defective, given incorrectly or otherwise inaccurate."Stephen Gustitis at The Defense Perspective has been posting an excellent blog series on the subject of scientific flaws with the Intoxilyzer 5000, the primary forensic tool used in most jurisdictions for DWI breath tests...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on July 01, 2008 (boomark / email).