Opinion ID: 852837
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Guy's Arguments Are Presented Without Science

Text: The logical conclusion to draw from the department of toxicology's use of the word put is that any foreign substance placed in a person's mouth more than twenty minutes prior to a breath test poses no problem for the reliability of the results. Guy argues that if put means put, the regulation produces an absurdity in that it would allow admission of breath test results despite a person putting anything in her mouth more than twenty minutes prior to the test. (Appellant's Br. in Opp. to Transfer at 3). [1] While one could imagine a Brandeis brief on this topic, Guy neither submitted to the trial court nor referred us to any scientific evidence in support of her contention about absurd results. [2] In fact, the science available in the public domain points in the opposite direction. The concern over foreign substances a person's mouth is the potential for the substances to absorb and retain alcohol in the mouth, which could falsely elevate the breath alcohol concentration. See Patrick M. Harding et al., The Effect of Dentures and Denture Adhesives on Mouth Alcohol Retention, 37 J. Forensic Sci. 999, 999-1000 (1992). A number of studies have shown, though, that a fifteen to twenty-five minute waiting period during which nothing is placed in a person's mouth allows sufficient time for any mouth alcohol to dissipate. See, e.g., Id. at 999; Barry K. Logan & Rodney G. Gullberg, Lack of Effect of Tongue Piercing on an Evidential Breath Alcohol Test, 43 J. Forensic Sci. 239, 239-40 (1998); Ronald L. Moore & J. Guillen, The Effect of Breath Freshener Strips on Two Types of Breath Alcohol Testing Instruments, 49 J. Forensic Sci. 1, 1-3 (2004). These studies support the department of toxicology's decision to require that nothing be put in a person's mouth within twenty minutes of a breath test. To be sure, the department and the State could be obliged to defend the validity of the regulations should a defendant submit admissible scientific studies or expert testimony to a trial court in support of a motion to suppress. That has not occurred here.