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Why Do Police Destroy DUI Evidence?

By Lawrence Taylor

As we all know from watching TV, the police are always very careful to preserve the evidence in criminal investigations. Except in DUI investigations. What is the single most important piece of evidence in most drunk driving cases? The Breathalyzer test. In fact, it’s the ONLY evidence of the crime of driving with over .08% blood alcohol. And it’s pretty important for the “driving under the influence” charge, too: the law presumes the defendant is under the influence if the test result is .08% or higher. Evidence just doesn’t get more important than that. So, of course, the police are careful to preserve the breath sample, right? I mean, there may be some question later of whether the machine was working correctly; it would be a simple matter to save the sample so it could be tested again on another machine...continue to full post

Full post as published by DUI Blog on October 13, 2008 (boomark / email).