Breath, Blood And Urine Tests
DUI Charges In Miami: Defense Lawyer With Over 30 Years of Success
If you blow over the .08 limit, or have a blood test result over .08, don’t automatically assume that you cannot fight your DUI case. Breath and blood tests frequently have incorrect or inaccurate results. Breath and blood testing equipment may not be calibrated properly, the operator may have had inadequate training or the blood samples may have been illegally or improperly collected.
You need to find out fast if you have been charged with Top DUI Lawyers in Miami, and I urge you to call my firm, Jonathan B. Blecher, P.A., at once if you have been arrested and charged with misdemeanor or felony DUI.
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Standardized Field Sobriety Tests
Breath Tests
Breath testing instruments are sensitive and are required to be properly calibrated before and after each use. In addition, police must use a very specific procedure in order for the results to be accurate and admissible in court. In the state of Florida and in Miami, the most common type of testing for BAC level is with the Intoxilyzer 8000.
Although this evidence is the most compelling evidence against you, it may be false. Any breath testing unit can fail, as can any device. Roadside testing units are prone to failure as the reading can be affected by temperature and radio waves. Other problems in breath testing at roadside can be the result of the following:
- smoking cigarettes, which may raise the level of acetaldehyde in the lungs, which the testing unit may recognize as alcohol
- diabetics with low blood sugar can have false readings from acetone
- recent burping
- low-calorie diet
- have not eaten for a long period of time.
It is important that the details of what happened to you are evaluated by a legal professional familiar with how breath testing can go wrong and result in DUI charges.
Blood Tests
Blood test samples could be contaminated during processing in the lab or even at the point of collection. Blood alcohol content may still rise after a police stop, and your BAC during the time of driving may be lower than when the sample was collected. There is a specific procedure that must be followed when testing blood. First, the arm cannot be swabbed with isopropyl alcohol, as this can impact the BAC level.
Secondly, blood samples can ferment if not properly stored or be mixed with other samples if the procedures are not carefully followed. When the blood test is done, the entire sample must be tested, as opposed to just the plasma, which is often the procedure. Even a perfect test could give a false reading, as with all testing, there could be an incorrect BAC level. Talk to me about what happened with your test.
Urine Tests
Urine tests are less accurate than blood tests when screening for drugs. For this reason, they are often allowed to be used only if blood test results were inconclusive or blood testing was unavailable. After a drug-related DUI arrest, some prosecutors will try to prove intoxication by using urine test results. But these tests often cannot hold up under scrutiny, as many substances can cause a false reading.
Urine tests prove to be unreliable because they don’t actually test for drugs. They test for “metabolites,” which are traces of drugs that remain in a person’s system. Metabolites may be detectable well after the high has worn off. They cannot conclusively show that a drug was present in the driver’s system and causing impairment when the person was pulled over and arrested for DUI. If your charges were based largely on urine test results, reach out to discuss your options.
Contact my firm today to learn more about how I can defend your DUI charges.