Opinion ID: 799063
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Breathalyzer Test

Text: At trial, both parties spent significant time discussing the validity of the results of the two breathalyzer tests. The government's expert, Cynthia Burbach, a forensic toxicologist working for the State of Colorado, testified that the results were valid and accurate. Ms. Burbach based her testimony on the results of the breathalyzer tests and the absence of evidence that Mr. Cope ingested any alcohol during or after the flight. She testified that, at the time of the tests, Mr. Cope was no longer absorbing alcohol. He was instead in the alcohol elimination phase. Ms. Burbach explained that the average elimination rate is between .01 and .025 milligrams per deciliter per hour but that she had observed elimination rates as high as .036 per hour in the laboratory and as high as .056 per hour in the literature. She observed that Mr. Cope's elimination rate as exhibited by the two breathalyzer tests was higher than average. [1] Based on his higher-than-average elimination rate, Ms. Burbach said that Mr. Cope was absolutely an experienced drinker. Appx., Vol. II, at 378. She further testified that breath testing has a .02 variance and that if two results on the type of breathalyzer machine that Mr. Jones used are within .02, those are two good tests. [2] Id. at 396. When asked during cross-examination whether there was a possibility that the breathalyzer test produced invalid results, Ms. Burbach responded: Yes. [But] I don't have any evidence that shows me there's an invalid result. Id. at 459. Mr. Jones, the breath alcohol technician who administered Mr. Cope's breathalyzer tests, also testified to the reliability of the results. He said the breathalyzer machine functioned properly, had recently passed its monthly accuracy test, and was calibrated to Denver's high altitude. Mr. Jones stated that a pre-test scan indicated that there was no alcohol in the ambient air in the testing facility. Mr. Cope's expert, Dr. Patricia Rosen, a board certified physician in internal and emergency medicine and toxicology, testified that the breathalyzer results could not be scientifically accurate. She explained that the elimination rate demonstrated by the results of the breathalyzer tests was higher than anything she had ever seen or read about in the literature and that such an elimination rate was not physiologically possible. [3] Id. at 537. Dr. Rosen opined that the results were not accurate with a medical degree of certainty, id., and that she would not trust them if she saw them in the emergency room.