Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations establishes the protocal for how California will administer, collect, store, and analyize
California DUI chemical blood tests
DUI breath tests
DUI urine test
A failure to comply with Title 17 of the Code could result in inaccurately high BAC levels. causing innocent people to be falsely accused of Drunk Driving.
These violations of protocal are where successful challenges to DUI are often fought and acquitals attained.
When I handle DUI Cases i go through the paperwork and procedure that was used to ascertain if a DUI case should be taken to trial.
I ask for certain things in the discovery process with the Deputy District Attorney such as
MVARS this is the video of the stop. I want to see if the stop was legally justified and if the officer told the truth in his report.
Callibration logs for the machines used to test the blood alcohol level of the person accused.
and many other things I am looking to see if
There was an unauthorized person performing the blood draw.
using an alcohol based agent to sterilize the draw site.
having an insufficient amount of anticoagulent or preservative and or
not properly storing the blood sample.
‘Blood tests are probably the most accurate type of test to get an accurate reading of blood alcohol in the blood.
however blood test can still be challenged and often are challenged.
AS TO BREATH TESTS
breath test must come from deep lung air, or “aveclar air”
the person that administers the test observe the person for 15 minutes prior to breath sample
that during this time the person does not eat drink or throw up
that the breath testing instrument is calibrated every ten days of 150 uses whichever occurs first.
Title 17 imposes these safeguards to ensure that DUI breath tests are as accurate as possible. One of the most significant problems arises when these precautions arent followed
I have seen officers on the stand that do not understand how calibration works or even how the machine would show if it was not properly calibrated. How are they to know if the machine is not properly calibrated if they do not even know the signal for if the machine was not properly calibrated?
GERD
Those with the medical condition of GERD (acid reflex) often give off falsely higher breath test results. That is because the body constitutely produces mouth alcohol this can and often does affect the amount of BAC that could be making your BAC seem higher than it actually does.
This of course does not matter if you took a blood test rather than a breath test. This is a critical fact that we will use to adequately fight your DUI case. another factor that could lead to a violation of Title 17 and blood alcohol content results, is as stated above the maintenence of the machine used to measure blood alcohol content. if the operater of the machine was not properly trained to use the machine or is the machine was not properly calibrated both of those factors can result in a falsely high blood alcohol reading.
Some officers are better trained at DUI stops than others. For example, if an officer that usually does not do DUI stops is conducting the stop then he may not be familiar with the paperwork and procedure needed to properly conduct a DUI investigation. Some officers do not conduct a lot of traffic stops and sometimes will call for other officers to assist them with the stop. Sometimes a better trained officer is not available and the untrained officer will have to conduct the investigation himself.
These are some of the issues that we look at to assess your DUI
Please call if you have any questions. 559 441-1418.
