Ohio BAC Testing

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is a measure of the amount of alcohol in the body. Under Ohio law, it is illegal to have a BAC at .08% or above. BAC is measured directly through testing blood or indirectly through tests that use urine or breath.

Have you been arrested for drunk driving in Ohio? If so, Funkhouser Law has extensive knowledge in the different forms of Ohio BAC Testing. Contact our Columbus drunk driving attorney today!

Blood testing in Ohio can produce accurate and reliable results for prosecutors to use as proof of a motorist’s intoxication. However, it is critically important to establish that technical steps were taken and proper scientific procedure was used before the blood sample will be admissible against an accused motorist. For example, most blood samples are taken after a car accident. It is crucial that the blood sample was taken within a certain amount of time after the accident. This may raise important questions if there were no witnesses as to the time of the accident or if there was significant delay in law enforcement officers arriving on the scene. Further, there are many technical laboratory procedures that may call into question the reliability of the blood test. These procedures include issues such as whether the blood was properly refrigerated and whether the instruments used to test the blood were properly calibrated. Results of a blood test are sometimes the critical piece of evidence in the most serious drunk driving cases. It is extremely important that the defendant has an experienced Columbus drunk driving attorney to re-trace the steps of the blood (from the time it left the motorist's arm to the time the results reached the court) to ensure that the results from the test are valid. This is a complex task and requires an acute understanding of this area of law.

Many of the issues that arise in the case of blood testing to determine intoxication also surface in the case of urine testing. Again, there are issues of reliability, including re-tracing the steps of the urine to ensure proper preservation of the sample and calibration of the testing equipment. It is critical that an accused motorist consult an experienced attorney to expose any weaknesses in the testing methods used or the administration of the test.

Breathalyzer tests to prove intoxication are very common in Ohio drunk driving cases. The primary machine used by officers is the BAC Datamaster which does an “infrared analysis”. Essentially, the motorist breathes into the BAC Datamaster and the breath is held in a small chamber inside the machine. An infrared beam is sent through that chamber. Because alcohol absorbs infrared energy at a certain frequency, the more alcohol present in the breath held in the chamber, the more infrared light will be absorbed. The amount of infrared energy absorbed by the breath sample in the sample chamber is calculated by the machine's internal computer. The machine then prints out a breath alcohol reading. This breath alcohol reading is then translated into an “equivalent” blood alcohol level. Although breath tests are often the primary evidence in drunk driving cases, there are many problems and irregularities associated with them. Common problems include:

• inconsistent calibration checks of the machines
• smaller motorists who are unable to force out enough breath to activate the machine
• machines that have incomplete or sporadic maintenance and repair records
• police radio interference.

Similar to both blood and urine testing, only an experienced Columbus drunk driving attorney familiar with this area of the law will be able to evaluate the reliability of the equipment, testing techniques, and ultimately, the results of the breathalyzer test.

Have you been arrested for drunk driving in Ohio? If so, Funkhouser Law has extensive knowledge in the different forms of Ohio BAC Testing. Contact our Columbus drunk driving attorney today!

This site is intended as general information and does not establish an attorney client relationship with the office of Douglas A. Funkhouser Co., L.P.A.

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