Source: https://www.thesessionslawfirm.com/2014/12/08/use-of-insufficient-sample-breath-test-results-at-trial
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:07:57+00:00

Document:
With these principles in mind, the evidence shows that the DUI charge arose after Walker was stopped at 2:30 a.m. pursuant to a routine sobriety check roadblock erected at the intersections of Peachtree Industrial and Holcomb Bridge Road. A strong odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and bloodshot eyes led to a request for voluntary performance of field sobriety exercises and Walker's acquiescence in their performance; the results of the exercises led to Walker's arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol.
The arresting officer in this case, S. Schunk, is a Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training-certified veteran with the Gwinnett County Police Department's DUI force who has investigated “thousands” of potential DUI suspects. Schunk testified that, following Walker's arrest and the reading of implied consent, Walker agreed to take a breath test and did not request an additional independent chemical test at that time or at any other time.
A mobile Intoxilyzer 5000 EN, Serial Number 68-11123, (the “machine”) was present at the roadblock, and a breath test was administered to Walker on the scene within 30 minutes of the initial stop. Quarterly certificates of inspection on the machine, issued the quarters before and after Walker's breath test, were introduced without*874 objection and showed that the machine's “electronic and operating components prescribed by its manufacturer are properly attached and are in good working order.” In addition, the machine performed a diagnostic test immediately prior to Walker's test, and such test demonstrated that the machine was working properly.
Mr. Walker did not blow into the machine as he was instructed. He was puffing on his cheeks acting like he was blowing but never blew into the machine, which is supposed to tone as we have been instructed and as it's done since I have used the intox. It never made a tone noise…. No; not as long as I had Mr. Walker blowing on it…. I actually took another mouth piece to show him how you've got to blow. I advised when he blows into it he can see the mouth piece fog up from him blowing into it. And I wasn't seeing that, and he still wouldn't blow into it…. I advised him if he wasn't going to blow into the machine I would count that as a refusal…. I've had several people play games with the machine. I've been around the machine a long time.
[t]he whole time during even the evaluation [Walker] kept advising me if I would help him out in this instant, he would make it worth my while…. He advised me after to help him out. He would make it worth my while. He was going through a tough time because he's accused of having sexual relations with his daughter. That's why he was out drinking that night.
[Walker] is on the intox. He's refusing it. It's my interpretation. I've given the test numerous times. You know when people are playing with it. You know when they are blowing. You do it numerous different ways. If you're blowing hard enough, I'm going to hear a long steady tone and it will stop flashing: Please blow.
Based on his training and experience, Schunk determined that Walker was deliberately failing to provide adequate air volume for the machine to evaluate his BAC. As Walker was “playing with the machine” and making no real attempt to produce an air sample for evaluation, Schunk discontinued the test and registered Walker's failure to properly blow into the machine as a “refusal” to submit to chemical testing.
James Panter, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's (“GBI”) Manager of the Implied Consent Program, also provided evidence on the operation of the machine. The evidence adduced from Panter showed that the air flow sensor in the machine was in “good working order” or the machine could not have passed inspection as reflected in the certificates of inspection introduced without objection. Panter testified that the air flow sensor on the machine is unrelated to a quantitative evaluation of BAC for purposes of a DUI prosecution, and that a numeric air flow value is only included on the machine's printout when an insufficient air sample is given; otherwise, a BAC value will be present, not a numeric air volume reading.
Panter stated that the degree of accuracy of the air flow sensor is 0.1 liters, plus or minus. He further testified he personally made the decision not to require 100 percent accuracy as to the numeric amount of air volume because the accuracy of that number is not relevant to a DUI prosecution for excess BAC since air flow volume varies from subject to subject and does not demonstrate impairment. Panter testified that whether an insufficient sample is based upon 0.345, as here, or 0.922 is irrelevant; the machine recognizes when it has received an insufficient sample to perform a BAC evaluation and reports same. Further, a trained officer has the discretion to determine when a subject is “playing games” with the machine by deliberately giving an insufficient sample. Panter testified that, when determining whether a subject is “faking it” with the machine, he tells a trained officer to “[u]se your own judgment. Use common sense.” GBI *876 guidelines leave it to a trained officer's discretion to register a “refusal” when a subject gives an insufficient air sample.
some of [Walker's] breath did pass through this mouth piece and go through the intoxilyzer and the flow sensor for the flow sensor to activate and start measuring. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was something.
Panter stated that an air flow volume of 0.345 is enough to make the machine generate a tone and to create condensation inside the mouthpiece. He testified that if the officer giving the test did not hear a tone, “[t]hat would indicate something was wrong with the instrument or the operator didn't hear the tone.” Appellant Walker did not testify at the motion to suppress.
1. In his first three enumerations of error, Walker urges reversal and argues that the machine did not have “all its electronic and operating components … in good working order” as required by OCGA § 40-6-392(a)(1)(A), because the machine's air flow sensor was not calibrated to produce an accurate numeric air flow volume; he also argues that the failure to accurately calibrate the volume of air flow denied him “exculpatory evidence” showing he attempted to generate an air sample; finally, he complains that Schunk was not properly trained to understand the significance of numeric air flow volume. We find no basis for reversal.
FN3. Gutierrez v. State, 228 Ga.App. 458(1), 491 S.E.2d 898 (1997).
FN4. Young v. State, 275 Ga. 309, 310(2), 565 S.E.2d 814 (2002).
FN5. See Lattarulo v. State, 261 Ga. 124, 126(3), 401 S.E.2d 516 (1991); see generally Walker v. State, 204 Ga.App. 559, 562(4), 420 S.E.2d 17 (1992).
FN6. (Citations omitted.) Allen v. State, 229 Ga.App. 435, 438(1), 494 S.E.2d 229 (1997); accord Bartnick v. State, 203 Ga.App. 369, 370, 416 S.E.2d 739 (1992).
FN8. (Citation omitted.) Gutierrez v. State, supra at 459, 491 S.E.2d 898.
Moreover, when an insufficient sample is given, GBI administrative guidelines leave it to an officer's discretion to determine whether a subject is “faking it,” regardless of the numeric value assigned to the air flow.FN9 The statute specifically authorizes the GBI to adopt procedures with regard to the operation of its testing machines.FN10 A trained officer such as Schunk, who has performed thousands of DUI evaluations, has a knowledge of behavioral and physical characteristics utilized by a subject who is “playing with the machine,” and the officer is present to witness the subject's actions during the testing process. This Court declines Walker's invitation to go behind either the statute, the GBI guidelines, or the experiences of the officer in the field and legislate specific procedures that must be followed when an “insufficient sample” reading is accompanied by a numeric air flow value.
It is time for Georgia courts to revisit the admissibility of this evidence.

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