I am often contact by prospective clients with regard to blood test drunk driving cases. These cases are out of the ordinary as most DWI prosecutions in New Jersey utilize a breath test (the Alcotest 7110) to obtain the defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC) to determine whether or not the defendant is driving while intoxicated.

If you or someone you love has been charged with any DWI/DUI matter it is important that you contact an experienced firm with a proven criminal defense record. Every attorney at our firm not only has years of experience defending those accused of drunk driving, but also holds dual certification in the Alcotest and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. Our criminal defense trial team is composed of former municipal prosecutors with over 100 years of collective legal experience representing clients throughout New Jersey. Many of our drunk driving defense lawyers are certified in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (“SFST”), the tests police use to make an arrest in a drunk driving (DWI) case. In fact, three (3) of our attorneys are certified instructors in SFST. Further, our criminal trial team members are also certified by Draeger Industries in the operation and maintenance of the Alcotest 7110, the breath test device used by police to measure blood alcohol content (“BAC”).

Blood tests for blood alcohol content (“BAC”) collected after an accident, DWI traffic stop , or other legally authorized stop of your vehicle can be and are often successfully challenged in several ways. My criminal trial team provides an extensive defense for excluding blood test evidence by challenging key aspects of the blood test process, which include but are not limited to:

• The sampling methods or preservation of the sample were improper.
• The technician or officer administering the test was unqualified to do so.

As a law office composed of former DUI and DWI prosecutors, our attorneys are experienced in understanding how to identify errors in BAC testing.

In New Jersey, you do not have the right to refuse a blood, breathalyzer or urine test. Importantly, the refusal statute only governs the refusal to submit to a breath test (see N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.2). Refusal to submit to a blood test is therefore not a violation (so you cannot have your license suspended automatically as with refusing to offer a breath sample). In fact, I recently had a DWI dismissed because the defendant was improperly charged with refusal to submit to a blood test.

However, the police will have the right to take blood in certain types of cases including but not limited to: when a defendant has been injured and is in need of medical attention or because of the defendant’s status as being injured renders them unable to provide a breath sample. Also, if the defendant refuses to provide a breath sample, the defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC) is dangerously high, or the defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC) is dangerously low, a blood test may be used. If the defendant is acting out of the ordinary and yet his BAC is extremely low the Police may have a reasonable suspicion to suspect the defendant was under the influence of drugs.

Critical Point – As stated in State v Ravotto, “consent is not required to the taking of a blood sample, but the taking of such sample must be done in a medically acceptable manner and environment”. Whether or not such samples were done in a medically acceptable manner and environment are the crucial issues our DWI/DUI attorneys attack every day.