Excerpt: Michigan State Police have determined there is a problem with the state’s breath alcohol DMT testing devices. All 203 units in Michigan have been taken out of service by MSP pending further notice.
“State police officials are alerting law enforcement agencies about problems with breath alcohol testing devices used by many police departments” according to a letter obtained by The Detroit News
“DataMasters are located at most sheriff departments around the state, and some local departments have purchased their own,” the state website said. “The DMT DataMaster is the test instrument used for evidential breath alcohol tests.”
The MSP didn’t just wake up one day and issue a stop order. This has been a long time coming. They knew for at least 165 days that there was a problem with the Datamaster DMT devices.
Q. If you were convicted of drunk driving or were on probation in Michigan and had a breath test what should you do?
A. Call Jeffrey T. McCarty now to find out if you have a basis to set aside your plea or otherwise obtain relief from judgement. You’ll need a lawyer that specializes in this type of case and has deep knowledge of what is happening in Michigan with regard to the major problems in certification of the devices used in Michigan for evidence.
The law states that the testing device must be shown to be reliable in People v. Tipolt
Serious questions have arisen about that reliability since at least August of 2019, and potentially as far back as September of 2018. The problems so disturbing & pervasive that ALL 203 units in Michigan have been taken out of service by MSP pending further notice.
Already, serious errors have occurred that have resulted in dismissal of some cases.
Developing…more to come.
Daily Beast has written extensively about this with regard to Michigan State Police as well.
