Kentucky DUI News

Birchfield involves a trilogy of cases dealing with criminalizing a refusal to submit to a blood or breath test in  DUI prosecutions. The Birchfield holding was significantly different as it distinguishes prosecutions of breath and blood refusals. The Birchfield Court held that you could criminalize the refusal to take a breath test in DUI prosecution because it was not coercive. Giving a breath test involves no intrusion into your body. The same could not be said for a refusal to ... Read More »

What are the requirements for the admission of the intoxilizer breath tests in DUI cases? This question has been litigated for years. To some extent, the standards have been modified and changed. The intoxilizer is obviously subject to a Daubert attack.  Johnson v. Commonwealth has held that breath testing may not be flawless; however, it has been determined for years to have sufficient reliability to be admissible in evidence and to sustain a conviction. 12 SW 3d 258, 262 (Ky. ... Read More »

This article deals with methods to suppress the blood alcohol number versus the numerous attacks on the number as it relates to the intoxilizer. It is far easier to have the blood alcohol results suppressed during pretrial than it is to convince jurors the results are inaccurate. There are a number of requirements that must be met before the intoxilizer is admissible in Kentucky. Sources of these attacks come from the Kentucky Administrative Regulations, Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), and manuals ... Read More »

Effective July 1, 2020 Kentucky has passed a new Ignition Interlock Bill for those convicted of DUI. The Bill makes dramatic changes to the existing law.  The Bill in its entirety is set out in Senate Bill 85. The Interlock will prevent a car from starting if the sample of the persons breath  registers greater than 0.02 grams of alcohol  per 210 liters of breath.  This is no change. Also the driver’s breath is tested every 10 minutes thereafter. This ... Read More »

The Alco-Sensor III is the main preliminary breath tester (PBT) used in Kentucky. The PBT may be used by the police pursuant to KRS 189A.100. Pursuant to this statute the PBT may be administered in the field to a person suspected of violating KRS 189A.010 before the person is arrested. The test may be administered in addition to any other blood alcohol tests authorized by law. According to KRS 189A.100 (1) the refusal of the PBT shall not be used ... Read More »