How to Beat a DUI in Michigan with High Breath Test

To beat a DUI in Michigan with a high breath test your lawyer must find a way to convince the prosecutor that the test result is wrong. If the prosecutor won't agree to dismiss or significantly reduce the charge, then trial may be your only option. But beating a drunk driving charge that includes a .14 result from a breathalyzer machine is very difficult.

Barone Defense Firm DUI Lawyer Ryan Ramsayer recently earned a not guilty verdict in an Wayne County Michigan DUI case. What follows is a detailed description of how he did it.

The facts of the case start with a traffic stop by a police officer in Wayne County for weaving in and out of lanes and speeding. According to the police report, the client showed signs of intoxication, even though he denied drinking.

He was arrested and given a Datamaster breath test at the police station which showed a breath alcohol content of .13/.14. Not a great start. But he hired Ryan T. Ramsayer of the Barone Defense Firm; the ace up his sleeve. Ramsayer knows how to beat a DUI charge, and it all started with a thorough investigation and evaluation of the case.

All Michigan DUI charges start with pretrial discovery. This is where the lawyers exchange information about their case. The prosecutor provided Ramsayer with the police reports, breathalyzer video, and other evidence collected at the time of our client's DUI arrest.

Ramsayer knew what many criminal defense attorneys didn't - Michigan's breath test program was a mess! Around the time of the client’s DUI arrest, the State’s maintenance technician for the Datamaster machine was not performing his duties properly and was falsifying records. The technician would eventually be found guilty of multiple felonies for his acts.

Understanding the science behind the testing and working with other defense attorneys to obtain records of his work, including internal Michigan State Police memos, we were able to discover that he had really screwed up the Datamaster machine in Wayne County on which our client’s breath was tested.

Pretrial motions is a great way to defend operating while intoxicated or OWI charges, which is another name for the offense of DUI. Armed with the above knowledge, Mr. Ramsayer successfully suppressed the Datamaster breath test by filing a motion with exhibits of over 80 pages detailing this failure. Without a breath test result most prosecutors would dismiss the matter.

However, the prosecutor for this case refused to offer more than a Reckless Driving. Our client held strong and refused to be bullied by the State, still knowing that the experience, expertise, and resiliency of the Barone Defense Firm was by his side.

This eventually led us to a trial. Using his extensive trial experience, Mr. Ramsayer was able to select a favorable jury to hear the matter. He was also able to prepare his client and ensure the jury would look favorably upon him. Still, the prosecution had an opportunity to present their case and they were not pulling punches.

When the officer testified, it was clear that he firmly believed that our client was impaired. However, Mr. Ramsayer was able to point out many deficiencies in the officer’s testimony, including when the officer tried to invalidly refer to the breath test that was suppressed. Mr. Ramsayer also noted that the officer forgot to even mention that he believed there was weaving. Instead, he only focused on the speeding, which most people do every day without alcohol in their system.

The officer’s testimony showed that he had very little training and had forgotten most of it. Mr. Ramsayer led a vigorous cross-examination, which exposed the lack of training the officer received and highlighted that the trooper failed throughout the arrest process to follow even the basic instructions of his own training.

Instead, the officer skipped essential baseline questions, failed to perform his role in the testing, and mischaracterized or lied about our client’s performance on the field sobriety tests. When called out on these inconsistencies, the trooper refused to change his interpretation of his results and continued to claim impairment. Fortunately, the jury was able to see that the trooper was just prejudging our client and was clearly biased towards a result, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict for our client. As a result of Mr. Ramsayer’s diligent work and willingness to fight until the end for his client, this client avoided possible jail time, a criminal record, which avoided loss of his status in the National Guard. Another win in a drunk driving case for the Barone Defense Firm.

If you are facing a DUI and need a Michigan DUI Lawyer to win your case, call the Barone Defense Firm for a free, no cost case review.