The Minnesota DWI Case Of The Week is Olson v. Commissioner of Public Safety (Decided October 21, 2019, Minnesota Court of Appeals, Unpublished) which, once again, stands for the proposition that if the Data Master Breath Testing machine prints a breath test result at or above the legal limit, the uncertainty of measurement inherent in said machine is not "relevant".
In Olson, the Petitioner was arrested for a Minnesota DWI and he tested at .16% BAC on the Data Master Breath testing machine. Mr. Olson filed a challenge to the revocation of his license and notified the Commissioner of Public Safety that he intended to offer the testimony of a “breath testing expert” from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who would “testify regarding the foundational reliability of the breath test result” and “the uncertainty of measurement values that apply to these breath test results.” The next day, the commissioner filed a motion in limine to exclude Olson’s evidence concerning uncertainty of measurement on the ground that the evidence is irrelevant.
The district court subsequently filed an order in which it granted the commissioner’s motion in limine and sustained the revocation of Olson’s driver’s license. The district court focused on the admissibility of Olson’s evidence concerning uncertainty of measurement. The district court stated that the terms “margin of error” and “uncertainty of measurement” describe the same concept and noted, “While a petitioner may challenge the actual administration of a breath test, a petitioner may not challenge the general reliability of the breath test, whether via margin of error, uncertainty of measurement, or another similar statistical method.”
On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court noting:
"Evidence consisting of “the results of a breath test” is, as a matter of law, “admissible in evidence without antecedent expert testimony that an infrared or other approved breath-testing instrument provides a trustworthy and reliable measure of the alcohol in the breath,” so long as the breath test was “performed by a person who has been fully trained in the use of an infrared or other approved breath-testing instrument . . . pursuant to training given or approved by the commissioner of public safety or the commissioner’s acting agent.” Minn. Stat. § 634.16 (2018); see also In re Source Code, 816 N.W.2d at 528 n.3; State v. Norgaard, 899 N.W.2d 205, 207-08 (Minn App. 2017); State v. Ards, 816 N.W.2d 679, 685 (Minn. App. 2012). “But section 634.16’s presumption of reliability may be challenged in a proceeding under section 169A.53, subdivision 3(b)(10), which specifically permits a driver to challenge the reliability and accuracy of his or her test results.” In re Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 735 N.W.2d 706, 711 (Minn. 2007); see also State v. Underdahl, 767 N.W.2d 677, 685 n.4 (Minn. 2009)."
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Olson "sought to prove that the breath-test results were not accurately evaluated on the ground that the DataMaster instrument’s measurements of the alcohol content of his breath samples was subject to a degree of uncertainty. Olson contends that his proffered evidence was relevant because it would have shed light on the 'actual true range' of the alcohol concentration of his breath samples."
The Court of Appeals rejected the proffered evidence as not "relevant" as there are a long line of cases which state that “Minn. Stat. § 169.123 (1982), does not require the Commissioner of Public Safety to prove an alcohol concentration of. 10 within an alleged margin for potential error.” Grund, 359 N.W.2d at 653. A later opinion explained the rationale for that statement:
Under Minn. Stat. § 169.123, subd. 4 (1982), the Commissioner must revoke a person’s license when “the test results indicate an alcohol concentration of. 10 or more.” The statute clearly requires a concentration of. 10—not. 10 plus or minus an error factor. And, Minn. Stat. § 169.123, subd. 6(3) (1982), expressly limits the issue to be raised at a hearing to whether “the test results indicate an alcohol concentration of .10 or more at the time of testing,” not whether or not the reading was . 10, coupled with some margin of error."
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"In light of the above-described caselaw, as well as the fact that both of the Datamaster’s two measurements exceed the legal threshold, the district court did not abuse its discretion by reasoning that Olson’s proffered evidence was not relevant to the issue to be decided at the implied-consent hearing."
Moral Of The Story: When it comes to breath testing, close enough is good enough.
If you or a loved one have been charged with 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 and DUI questions.
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