BREATH, BLOOD AND URINE TESTS

DUI CHARGES IN SANTA ROSA: DEFENSE LAWYERS WITH OVER 24 YEARS OF SUCCESS

If you blow over the .08 limit, or have a blood test result over .08, don’t automatically assume that you cannot fight your DUI case. Breath and blood tests frequently have incorrect or inaccurate results. Breath and blood testing equipment may not be calibrated properly; the operator may have had inadequate training or the blood samples may have been illegally or improperly collected.

You need to find out fast if you have been charged with DUI in Santa Rosa or anywhere in the North Bay. We urge you to call our firm, Fiumara & Milligan Law, PC at once if you have been arrested and charged with misdemeanor or felony DUI.

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STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

BREATH TESTS

Breath testing instruments are sensitive and are required to be properly calibrated before and after each use. In addition, police must use a very specific procedure in order for the results to be accurate and admissible in court.

Although this evidence is the most compelling evidence against you, it may be false or misleading. Any breath testing unit can fail, as can any device. Roadside testing units are prone to failure as the reading can be affected by temperature and radio waves and a number of other factors.

It is important that the details of what happened to you are evaluated by a legal professional familiar with how breath testing can go wrong, and result in DUI charges.

BLOOD TESTS

Blood test samples could be contaminated during processing in the lab or even at the point of collection. Blood alcohol content may still rise after a police stop, and your BAC during the time of driving may be lower than when the sample was collected. There is a specific procedure that must be followed when testing blood.

First, the arm cannot be swabbed with isopropyl alcohol, as this can impact the BAC level. Second, blood samples can ferment if not properly stored, or be mixed with other samples if the procedures are not c are fully followed. When the blood test is done, the entire sample must be tested, as opposed to just the plasma, which is often the procedure. Even a perfect test could give a false reading, as with all testing, there could be an incorrect BAC level. Talk to our firm about what happened with your test.

URINE TESTS

The urine test is less accurate than blood testing when screening for drugs, which is why the trend is not to allow use of the test if not confirmed by blood tests. When a person is arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, prosecutors may use the urine test results to prove intoxication. These tests often cannot hold up under scrutiny, as many substances can cause a false reading.

The problem with this approach is that urine tests are unreliable because they cannot determine when a drug was used. Urine analysis only detects metabolites (traces of previously ingested drugs) rather than the actual drug itself. So, depending on the drug, and the levels present, it is difficult to determine whether the drug was present in person’s system at the time of driving. Talk to our firm if you have been arrested and charged based upon a urine test.

Contact our firm today to learn more about how we can defend your DUI charges.

Please call our office today at (707) 571-8600 in our centrally located Santa Rosa office in Sonoma County or call our office in San Rafael in Marin County at (415) 492-4507 to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation.