Tucson judge tosses out alcohol breath tests in 49 DUI cases.

This is a major court rul­ing in the field of breath alco­hol cases. There are sev­eral such chal­lenges occur­ring around the coun­try, this might be the first such rul­ing where a large group of cases had their breath read­ing thrown out on the Intoxilizer 8000. It will be very inter­est­ing to see how the appeal process goes.

Original arti­cle here.

May. 19, 2008 03:04 PM
Associated Press

TUCSON — A judge in Tucson has tossed out alco­hol breath tests in 49 DUI cases and a defense attor­ney says the rul­ing could have wide­spread implications.

City Court Judge Thomas Berning’s rul­ing says the breath tests are inad­mis­si­ble because the com­pany that makes the machine hasn’t made its inner work­ings avail­able to the defense.

James Nesci, one of the defense attor­neys involved in the cases, says there are 50 to 70 pend­ing cases before other judges that were wait­ing for Berning’s ruling.

The rul­ing doesn’t dis­miss the cases entirely, just the breath tests.

The Tucson Citizen reports on its Web site that the rul­ing also could poten­tially affect every alco­hol breath test con­ducted in the state since Dec. 1, 2006. That’s when Arizona adopted the Intoxilizer 8000 machine made by CMI.

Deputy City Attorney Laura Brynwood says pros­e­cu­tors will appeal Berning’s rul­ing within the next 14 days.