Minneapolis DWI Attorney Blogs on Minnesota DWI: This Week's Featured Minnesota DWI Case

The Minnesota DWI Case of the Week is Torgerson v. Commissioner of Public Safety (Decided January 25, 2016, Unpublished, Minnesota Court of Appeals) which stands for the proposition that a breath test result will be deemed "reliable" even if the fuel cell on the DataMaster breath machine has been turned off.

In Torgerson, the Petitioner was arrested for a DWI and agreed to submit to a breath test at the police station where he tested over the legal limit of .08. The Petitioner challenged the revocation of his license noting that the DataMaster has two breath-alcohol measuring devices contained within the machine, i.e. : (1) infrared measuring device and, (2) a fuel cell measuring device.  And since the fuel cell measuring device on the machine was turned off, the Petitioner argued that with the fuel cell disabled, the scientific procedures necessary to ensure an accurate and reliable alcohol concentration test were not performed and that the revocation should, therefore, be rescinded.

The District Court sustained the revocation and on appeal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court, stating:

"A breathalyzer test reading conducted by a certified operator may be admitted into evidence if it is established that the machine was in proper working order and the chemicals in proper condition. Once a prima facie showing of trustworthy administration has occurred, it is incumbent on the opponent to suggest a reason why the test was untrustworthy." (citation omitted)

"Minn. Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 11 (2014) defines 'infrared or other approved breath-testing instrument' as 'a breath-testing instrument that employs infrared or other technology and has been approved by the commissioner of public safety for determining alcohol concentration.'  Minn. R. 7502.0425, subs. 2 (2015) states 'the DataMaster DMT-G is approved by the commissioner for the purpose of determining the alcohol concentration of a breath sample, proved that the sample is analyzed using either the unit's infrared technology or the unit's infrared technology in conjunction with its fuel cell technology'".

"The district court found no evidence that the DataMaster results are not accurate and reliable because the fuel-cell option was disabled and ruled that, rather than merely point to an alleged defect, appellant must demonstrate that the alleged defect actually affected the test results.'

The Court of Appeals then ruled that, "The DataMaster DMT-G with Fuel Cell Option is an approved instrument for analyzing a breath sample, using either the unit's infrared technology, or the infrared technology in conjunction with the fuel-cell technology. The officer who conducted the test was a certified operator; the machine was in proper working order; and there was no indication that the chemicals were not in proper condition...Thus, the state satisfied its burden for an admissible breath test."

Moral Of The Story: Good Enough For Government Work.

If you or someone you know has been arrested for a Minnesota DWI, feel free to contact Minneapolis DWI Attorney, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI questions.