After a shocking discovery that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Alcohol Testing intentionally withheld information about its faulty breath tests, District Attorney’s Offices all over the state have suspended the use of breathalyzer testing conducted from September 2014 to the present. It is predicated that nearly 58,000 drunk driving cases could be thrown out due to the state’s unlawful action.
Defense attorneys made this discovery while challenging the reliability of the Commonwealth’s Draeger Alcotest 9510 breath test. While reviewing documents, the attorneys discovered that the Office of Alcohol Testing withheld over 400 worksheets which documented failed calibrations of the breathalyzers. It was been determined that these worksheets were never produced to the District Attorney’s Office or defense counsel. Consequently, there is upwards of tens of thousands of defendants who pled guilty or went to trial on their OUI case unaware of the unreliability of the breath test results. Under pressure, District Attorney’s Offices have suspended the use of all breath test results while they investigate the Office of Alcohol Testing’s protocol.
If you think this may affect your OUI case—old or new—please give call the Law Offices of Keren Goldenberg for a free consultation. I have extensive experience challenging breath test results in court.