Reader’s Question:

I’m doing a little research about DWI cases because a friend of mine was arrested for DWI here in Hamburg, New York. In order to prove his innocence, I’m focusing now on how the breath test result can be attacked. Could you help me and tell me how me the breath test can be proved to be inaccurate?

Callista

Hamburg, NY

One of the ways on how a breath test result can be proved to be inaccurate is to know how fast your friend’s body eliminates the alcohol. Each one of us has different metabolism but the breath test machine assumes that each one of us is the same. In other words, an individual whose body gets rid of alcohol slower would have higher blood alcohol content than someone with a faster metabolism, even if they both have the same amount of alcohol to drink. The breath test assumes that the individual is “post absorptive.” That means that the breath test assumes that the individual is no longer absorbing alcohol into the blood.

If your friend has a slow metabolism, he might still be absorbing alcohol by the time he took the test when he was arrested for DWI in Hamburg, New York. And if so, the breath test would read his blood alcohol content as significantly higher than it actually is. If he knows or suspects that he has a slower than average metabolism, he may actually argue that his metabolism skewed the result of the breath test.

Tags: breath test, DWI, DWI advice, DWI arrest, DWI lawyer