The New Jersey Supreme court rules that 20,000 DWI convictions could be tossed according to this article. It appears that Sgt. Marc Dennis mishandled the instrument that reads Blood Alcohol Content. In addition, the Sergeant was charged with records tampering. The New Jersey supreme court held that 20,667 convictions for DWI could be challenged and notice must go out to anyone subjected to this error.
It has happened in Florida
In Broward county in 2009 it was discovered that one of the inspectors that were testing the initializer 8000, in an improper manner. Specifically instead of ingesting alcohol and giving a sample, the inspector simply put alcohol on her lips in order to conduct the test. The procedure was did not conform to FDLE and DHSMV administrative rules. Ultimately several DUI’s were dismissed as a result.
Why challenge a DUI
Many people think they cannot challenge the initializer 8000 in court. We have given now 20,000 different reasons why you should. A good DUI attorney will look at outside forces that may have affected your ability to perform field sobriety exercises such as weather conditions, the area where the exercises were performed, and whether the officers conducted the field sobriety exercises in an appropriate manner. Lastly, an experienced DUI attorney will look at attacking the reliability of the breath measuring device called the Initializer 8000.
The police have a strict procedure to follow when conducting a DUI investigation. Even minor violations of procedure can have a great impact on your case. As such, there are many different ways a DUI case can result other than a plea of guilty to DUI.
