The Minnesota DWI Case Of The Week is McIntyre v. Commissioner of Public Safety (Decided July 14, 2017, Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Unpublished) which stands for the proposition that "close is good enough for government work"!
In McIntyre, the Petitioner was arrested for DWI and taken to the Savage police department for breath testing. Ms. McIntyre provided two breath samples that were accepted by the testing machine. The first sample reported 0.087 alcohol concentration, and the second sample reported 0.080. Because under the testing procedure, the lower of the two samples, rounded down, is the final reported value, Mclntyre's testing showed a final result of 0.08.
Ms. McIntyre filed a challenge to the license revocation arguing that the test result was not sufficiently accurate to find that she was over the legal limit. An employee of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's breath lab testified for the defense that uncertainty ranges may be applied to the average of the two DataMaster testing results. She testified that with Mclntyre's test results, there was an 81.92 percent possibility that her test result was over 0.08.
The district court found that the implied consent statute did not require consideration of the margin of error for breath test results; that Mclntyre had supplied two breath tests, each with a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.08; and that the test was properly administered on a machine that had passed diagnostic and control tests.
On appeal, Ms. McIntyre argued that the testing was unreliable because of the uncertainty measurement calculations applied. Unfortunately, the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed with her argument stating:
"Mclntyre points out that the BCA expert testified that an uncertainty range was applied to the average of the two testing results, and the average of Mclntyre's two samples was 0.0835, which would mean an actual range of 0.0736 to 0.0934. But Mclntyre's argument based on the uncertainty range of testing is similar to alleging that alcohol concentration must be proved within a certain margin of error. We have held, in assessing the results of an alcohol testing instrument, that '[t]he Commissioner of Public Safety is not required to prove an alcohol concentration . . . within some alleged margin of potential error.' Dixon v. Comm'r of Pub. Safety, 372 NW.2d 785, 786 (Minn. App. 1985). We agree with the district court that Mclntyre's argument based on the uncertainty range fails. We also note that the BCA expert testified that a probability had been calculated for Mclntyre's test results, and the possibility that her test result was over 0.08 was 81.92%. This is sufficient to meet the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard applicable in implied-consent hearings."
Moral Of The Story: Never have one for the road as it is likely to put you over the legal limit.
If you or a loved one have been arrested for a Minnesota DWI, or are facing a DWI forfeiture of your motor vehicle, feel free to contact Minneapolis DWI Lawyer, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI questions.
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