Attorney Saia Interviewed About Ohio Supreme Court Decision on Breath Tests

Oct. 6, 2014 - PRLog -- The Ohio Supreme Court last week made a major decision regarding the way breath test results are presented and challenged in court. This ruling will greatly impact the way prosecutors handle OVI and DUI cases in Ohio, especially when evidence is obtained from a breath machine known as the Intoxilyzer 8000.

According to the court’s ruling, defendants may now challenge and question the accuracy of any breath test results obtained from the Intoxilyzer 8000. Defendants also have the right to question whether or not the machine was operating correctly. Another aspect of the court’s ruling is that health officials will now be required to provide any data the machines collects. However, state officials claim that the data is either unavailable or too difficult to retrieve with their current resources. This could lead to the Intoxilyzer 8000 machines no longer being approved for testing BAC in OVI/DUI cases.

Attorney Jon Saia of The Law Offices of Saia & Piatt, Inc. was interviewed about the court’s ruling by NBC 4 for its story “Ohio Supreme Court Rules Breath Test Results May Be Challenged”.

Attorney Saia explained that this new ruling will be a major setback for the state of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Health, and for prosecutors in the state, but it is a major win for the defense bar. He noted that the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling allows defense attorneys to challenge breath test results for nearly any type of machine, even though the case only specifically involved the Intoxilyzer 8000.

The state is facing some major obstacles with adjusting to the new ruling. In 2008, state officials purchased more than 700 Intoxilyzer 8000 machines, using $6.4 million of federal grant money. That investment will now be wasted, as the machines will likely be useless in proving a defendant’s BAC in the court of law. Law enforcement claims that they will continue to use the machines until further notice and will follow up with the latest rulings and any new developments from the health department.

While the ruling only referred to one breath test machine, Attorney Saia gave warning that the language of the ruling leaves the door wide open for defense lawyers to challenge all breath tests and even other types of machines in the state of Ohio.

The Law Offices of Saia & Piatt, Inc. is a criminal defense firm serving clients throughout Ohio. The have more than 100 years of collective experience and offer award-winning legal services for a wide range of criminal charges, including OVI. If you would like to learn more about the firm and their services, visit their website at www.splaws.com.