Texas Sobriety Testing

1. That the arresting officer made a proper arrest;
2. You were properly advised of your Constitutional rights;
3. That the equipment used to test your BAC was working accurately and properly maintained; and
4. The officers who tested you and operated any equipment were certified to do so.

The State must show that the officer that administers the “standard field sobriety tests” successfully completed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Standardized Field Sobriety Testing student class before administering these tests.

What does that mean to you? It means that in addition to grading you on your performance of the tests, we will also grade the officer to ensure that he or she conducted the tests properly. If the tests were not conducted properly, this can be disclosed to the jury to show that the tests results were unreliable and should not be believed.

Even if the arresting officer conducted the field tests correctly, it is important to understand that these tests are not 100% accurate. Studies conducted by the State show that field sobriety test are not 100% accurate in detecting drunk drivers. According to the federal government, accuracy of field sobriety tests are as follows:

HGN test......................77%

Walk and turn.............68%

One leg stand.............65%

Texas uses what is known as the Intoxilyzer 5000 to test people suspected of drunk driving. This machine is not universally accepted in the scientific community and has multiple problems with both its inter working and maintenance, which may provide valid defenses to failed breath tests.

A major problem with this machine is the number of assumptions built into its source code. For example, the Intoxilyzer 5000 assumes that everyone has the same blood breath partition ratio, hematocrit ratio and assumes that all samples are at an air temperature of 93.2 F. Texas DWI Law does not utilize any methods which would allow for a retest of samples given. The computer software is proprietary and is not available to scientific peer review.

There are many things which have been shown to affect a breath test score. These machines are generally not available for inspections by anyone outside of law enforcement. Texas does not allow for non-law enforcement or government personnel to become certified as breath test technical operators. Much of the Texas breath program remains limited to outsiders despite a generally assumed belief that these machines have undergone and passed wide general scientific review.

Just because you may have given a breath sample over the legal limit does not mean that you are guilty of DWI. These machines are highly controversial and there may be many valid defenses to a failed breath test. Our office owns several of these machines and our attorneys are familiar with how they work and their shortcomings.

If you or a loved one has been arrested or charged with a DWI or DUI within Collin County, Texas and the surrounding cities of McKinney, Allen, Frisco, Richardson, Dallas, Denton, Wylie, Addison, Prosper, Celina and The Colony, Texas and you need the help of an experienced drunk driving defense lawyer, call The Law Offices of Biederman & Burleson, P.L.L.C. today at (866) 439-2182 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with an experienced Plano, Texas DWI defense trial attorney.