Blood Alcohol Test

You refused to take the breathalyzer, so the police officer went to a judge and got a warrant signed to pull your blood. I’m sorry you had to go through this, as this is the most flawed part of the criminal justice system in my opinion because the law allowed the police officer’s interest in obtaining your blood alcohol level over your right to not have your body searched.

I hope you never have to go through this ever again. But the reality is, your case will in limbo for 6 months, pending the results of the blood draw. There is nothing you can do in this time to resolve your case.

If the blood test comes back above the legal limit of .08, the prosecutor will act like that was your blood alcohol level at the time of driving.  But we all know that’s not true. The blood draw occurred at least 1-2 hours after you were driving. If you had your last drink right before you got into your car, chances are your blood alcohol level was rising. If your blood alcohol level comes back at .09. You could very well have been under .08, the legal limit.

Furthermore, even if your blood alcohol level comes back much higher than the legal limit of .08 (for example, 0.16, double the legal limit), there are still many ways your blood sample could have been contaminated by using improper blood draw procedures.

One example is if the nurse used alcohol disinfectant to wipe down the puncture area of the blood draw. The alcohol from the disinfectant could have been drawn into the blood vial, which the Gas Chromatography Machine analyzing the blood vial will read as alcohol present in your blood sample, artificially increasing the blood alcohol level reading.

Another example is if the nurse shakes the blood vial too vigorously to mix the preservatives with the blood (because testing could take 6 months). This vigorous shaking could cause the blood cells to break and release hemoglobin into the serum or plasma, which would cause the blood alcohol level reading to be higher than the actual blood alcohol level.

If you gave a breath sample and want to discuss the specifics of your case, please don’t hesitate to give me a call at 512-898-9529for a free case evaluation.