If you are stopped by a New Jersey police officer and requested to give a breath sample to determine your blood alcohol content or (BAC), can your BAC reading be used against you in a New Jersey Municipal Court? The answer is it depends. Let me explain.
In New Jersey before a BAC reading can be admitted into evidence, to established an accused level of impairment, the State needs to provide that accused, upon request, three (3) foundational documents. The three foundational documents are: (1) the most recent Calibration Report prior to a defendant’s test, including control tests, linearity tests, and the credentials of the coordinator who performed the calibration; (2) the most recent New Standard Solution Report prior to a defendant’s test; and (3) the Certificate of Analysis of the .10 Simulator Solution used in a defendant’s control tests.
If the State is able to provide a defendant/motorist these core foundational documents then the State has, for the most part, met its burden. At that point, the State may introduce the defendant/motorist BAC level to prove a per se violation of New Jersey’s DWI law or NJSA 39:4-50. As a caveat, these foundational documents do NOT apply to portable breath test equipment utilized by some New Jersey police officers. Moreover, this blog post only discusses the validity of introducing the breath test reading rendered by the Alcotest 7110.
If you have been charged with driving under the influence in the State of New Jersey, give DWI attorney Dan T. Matrafajlo a call to for a free consultation to discuss possible defenses to your case.
