Physical evidence has become the gold standard for modern criminal courts. Eyewitness testimony is not as reliable as people once believed, so police officers and prosecutors tend to favor evidence that is concrete and harder to challenge.
Thanks, in part, to the ongoing popularity of criminal justice television shows, most people understand that fingerprints, genetic information or chemical testing are reliable sources of evidence for court cases. Some people think that if there is physical or chemical evidence, then a defendant must be guilty.
As someone accused of drunk driving, a failed chemical breath test can be as confusing as it is frightening. You may not understand how the breath test showed that you were over the legal limit, and you likely worried about what will happen if you get convicted. Thankfully, it is possible to defend against impaired driving charges even when there is chemical evidence.
Chemical breath test fail for a lot of reasons
Although people put a lot of faith in physical evidence and chemical testing, they aren’t perfect. Many mistakes could lead to inaccurate evidence, and that’s before you consider mistakes in storing or testing the evidence.
In a chemical breath testing scenario, the officer administering the test could make a mistake. The device could have an issue. The person performing the test during a traffic stop could have a medical issue that confuses the device. Inaccurate breath test results are such a common issue that people can and do challenge chemical evidence against them in court and win.
If you find yourself facing allegations of impaired driving and know that the breath test was inaccurate, then you might want to explore whether you can challenge the results. This could be a key step to developing a defense strategy in your case.