According to an August 16, 2018 Salem News article, prosecutors across Massachusetts have agreed to stop using the results of the breath test from 2011 through 2017 over concerns of calibration issues. What is more disturbing is that officials attempted to hide these issues from both defense lawyers and prosecutors.
Apparently a laboratory employee had not calibrated the devices, Draeger models 9510, to the proper range for margin of error. This ultimately resulted in the dismissal of more then 34,000 cases.
According to the article, the delay in discovering this problem was caused in part by the withholding of hundreds of documents that a court had previously ordered the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab to release. Thankfully, defense lawyers exposed this calibration issue.
Issues such as these emphasize why it is so important to hire a knowledgeable defense lawyer who will work to explore every possible defense.
About the Author: Steven Oberman has been licensed in Tennessee since 1980, and successfully defended over 2,500 DUI defendants. Among the many honors bestowed upon him, Steve served as Dean of the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. (NCDD) and currently serves as chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DUI Committee. Steve was the first lawyer in Tennessee to be Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the NCDD.
He is the author of DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee, updated annually since 1991 (Thomson-West), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor of the national treatise, Drunk Driving Defense, 8thedition (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen). Steve has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993 and has received a number of prestigious awards for his faculty contributions. He is a popular international speaker, having spoken at legal seminars in 30 states, the District of Columbia and three foreign countries.
If you would like to contact the author, please visit: http://www.tndui.com
