Attacking Breathalyzer evidence after drunk driving charges

Getting arrested on drunk driving charges may feel like a crisis, both personally and financially. For those without a strong legal strategy to defend themselves, it can turn into a nightmare. Although drunk driving charges may be common, they are still serious and can affect many areas of a defendant’s life.

Even if you believe that you do not have any good defense options, facing these charges with no defense whatsoever puts your future freedoms and rights at risk. The prosecutor is not likely to “take it easy” on you, even if it your first time. It is their job to secure convictions, and they are probably pretty good at it. If you recently were arrested for drunk driving, you must consider all your legal options in order to preserve your rights and avoid gifting an easy win to the prosecution.

Breathalyzer evidence is not as reliable as you might think, and there are other factors in any arrest that you may use in your defense. The sooner you begin building your defense, the more time you have to assess the evidence and find ways to challenge it.

Attacking the reliability of Breathalyzer results

Movies and television often portray Breathalyzer results as airtight evidence against a defendant, but this is inaccurate. Breathalyzers and other similar devices that measure blood alcohol content through the breath produce impressively accurate results, but they are not perfect. The results are even less reliable if a particular device is not properly calibrated before the measurement.

You should examine every detail of your arrest to identify any reasons you can find to question the validity of these results and the calibration of the device. It is also possible for a poorly maintained device to produce inaccurate measurements, which you may use in your defense.

Attacking the officer’s conduct

Even if the device used to test your sobriety was properly calibrated, it is possible that the officer who administered the test did not use the device correctly. This is not easy to prove by any means, but may be useful as part of your defense.

You must also consider all parts of your interaction with the officer. Even if the Breathalyzer results are reliable, the charges may not stick if the officer violated your rights during the stop or did not follow protocols.

Building a defense to drunk driving charges may feel overwhelming, but you must make it a priority. The consequences of failing to defend yourself from these charges are much greater than the difficulty of building a strong legal strategy. Make sure to keep your rights and your future freedoms secure using the strength of the law — and the sooner, the better.