As a standard device used to determine a person’s level of intoxication, a breathalyzer must provide accurate results. However, more and more frequently, the accuracy of breathalyzers face questions that undermine that status. This means that people charged with drunk driving based on breathalyzer results have a much stronger chance of avoiding conviction.

Breath testing equipment requires proper calibration.

Since 2019, reports of poorly calibrated or rarely serviced breathalyzer equipment have become more and more prevalent. It has gotten to the point that states such as Massachusetts and New Jersey have vastly diminished their reliance on breathalyzer results. While Texas rarely ever follows suit with states in the Northeast, reliance on breathalyzer tests is an open vulnerability in Texas drunk driving evidence gathering.

Among the issues found with breathalyzers were:

• Errors in results up to 40% higher than the actual level.
• Improperly administered breath tests.
• Inadequate oversight of the breath tests from officials.

These concerns, while seemingly small, are vastly important in a driving while intoxicated (DWI) case. Often the difference between a conviction and an acquittal relies completely on a few percentage points. If those can’t be counted on, then it is that much harder for a prosecutor to secure a conviction.

Other DWI evidence

However, the DA may rely on more than just a breathalyzer as evidence in a given DWI case. Typically, the other evidence available is the field sobriety tests and a blood test. Just as with breathalyzers, those tests also have weaknesses that a skilled DWI attorney can exploit.

You don’t have to accept a violation of your rights

No matter what the charges you face are, you have rights as a citizen of Texas and the United States. While law enforcement and the DA may present what appears to be a rock-solid case against you, you do not have to accept that as your fate. Because, as we’ve said above, often irrefutable evidence is, in fact, quite flawed.