DWI Cases in Doubt Due to Breathalyzer Errors
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has ordered law enforcement agencies statewide to verify the accuracy of their breathalyzer instruments.
This decision was made after calibration errors were discovered, rendering hundreds of DWI breath tests inadmissible in court.
The issue first came to light in Aitkin County, where defense attorney Chuck Ramsay found that an officer failed to properly calibrate a DataMaster machine despite documentation claiming otherwise.
This discovery led to the dismissal of several DWI cases and the invalidation of 73 breath tests.
Author's summary: Calibration errors affect DWI cases statewide.