WASHINGTON - Two D.C. defense attorneys who specialize in DWI cases are raising new concerns about DC's flawed breathalyzers. They said not only were the machines miscalibrated, but the test results were inaccurate. Hundreds of people have been falsely convicted of drunk driving in the District and are now fighting back. Thomas Key and his law partner Bryan Brown believe the breathalyzer problems have existed for years.
"The Attorney General's office and Metropolitan Police need to come clean and tell the public what’s going on," said Brown.
The cases in question date back to the fall of 2008 and center around 10 breathalyzers used up until February, 2010. D.C. officials said 400 people were convicted of driving while intoxicated based on flawed results. Half of them went to jail. Last week, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles told FOX 5 the machines were miscalibrated to show a driver's blood alcohol content to be about 20 percent higher than it actually was. He said an officer in charge of maintaining the breathalyzers improperly set the baseline alcohol concentration levels. However, Nickles does not believe the new findings will change the results of routine DWI cases.
"Keep in mind, you don't do the breathalyzer unless there's some evidence, field sobriety test, officers' observations that the individual should be brought into the station," said Nickles.
Key and Brown believe the problem dates back much further than 2008 and that many more people have fallen victim.
"Tell us what you're doing to fix it. The harm that was caused by the problem and tell us what you're doing to make sure this doesn't happen again,” said Brown.
The attorneys said there may eventually be a class action lawsuit. The District has replaced the flawed breathalyzers with another brand. They have also started to devise a stricter standard for testing accuracy. SOURCE: FOX DC
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