Another victory for our client—this time on a criminal DWI charge.
Earlier this year, our client was accused of refusing a breath test. The consequences for him were dire. He was looking at 90 days in jail, no alcohol consumption and supervised probation for 4 years, and his drivers license would be revoked for 10 years. They officer claimed he was gaming the breath machine and returning deficient samples to get a lower result. But from the day he walked into our office, he told us something very different. He said, “I tried to blow.”
We took him seriously.
We retained an expert to analyze the breath-testing evidence and determine what actually happened during the test. The expert’s analysis was spot on.
The data showed that our client was blowing into the instrument and provided adequate breath volume. Despite this, the officer decided he was not blowing enough and marked the test as a refusal.
We challenged that determination in the related Implied Consent case. After we submitted our evidence—including our expert’s analysis—the State administratively rescinded our client’s license revocation rather than proceed with the hearing. This was a fortunate result and it meant that the 10 year license revocation would disappear, however, our client still faced the criminal DWI charge and if he lost he would face the same consequences as if he had lost the implied consent case.
So we drafted a memorandum of law and sent it to the criminal prosecutor. We presented our arguments of law and the experts analysis to the state. Today we received another result: the prosecutor has notified us that the criminal DWI charge will also be dismissed based on her independent analysis of our memorandum and the outcome of our Implied Consent challenge.
This case is a good reminder that a police officer’s characterization of what happened is not necessarily the end of the inquiry.
The machine creates data. The data can be analyzed. And sometimes the data tells a very different story.
Our client said he tried to provide the breath sample.
The evidence showed that he did.
License revocation rescinded.
DWI charge to be dismissed.
We won by challenging the breath test—and by having the right expert take a hard look at the evidence.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
