Court Opinion

ID: 9759040
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:01:02.53723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:58.344212
License: Public Domain

*588DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
While I have no objection to the majority’s modification of the fine imposed on Appellant for speeding, I strongly disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the results of the intoxilzer test administered to Appellant were admissible in evidence.
In Pennsylvania the legislature has declared by statute the circumstances where the results of a chemical test of a person’s breath are sufficiently reliable to be admissible in evidence in a criminal proceeding. 15 Pa.C.S.A. § 1547(c)(1) provides:
“(c) Test results admissible in evidence. — In any summary proceeding or criminal proceeding in which the defendant is charged with a violation of section 3731 or any other violation of this title arising out of the same action, the amount of alcohol or controlled substance in the defendant’s blood, as shown by chemical testing of the person’s breath, blood or urine, which tests were conducted by qualified persons using approved equipment, shall be admissible in evidence.
(1) Chemical tests of breath shall be performed on devices approved by the Department of Health using procedures prescribed jointly by regulations of the departments of Health and Transportation. Devices shall have been calibrated and tested for accuracy within a period of time and in a manner specified by regulations of the Departments of Health and Transportation. For purposes of breath testing, a qualified person means a person who has fulfilled the training requirements in the use of the equipment in a training program approved by the Departments of Health and Transportation. A certificate or log showing that a device was calibrated and tested for accuracy and that the device was accurate shall be presumptive evidence of those facts in every proceeding in which a violation of this title is charged.” (emphasis added)
At the time Appellant was tested, there were established provisions for inspecting the accuracy of equipment. See: *58967 Pa.Code § 77.3 — § 77.6. To determine accuracy, the regulations provide that an inspection must be made within thirty days prior to the use of the device. In this case an intoxilyzer Model 4011-AS was used, which is an approved device, and the officer testified he performed the required inspection tests 17 days prior to Appellant’s test.
Although this device was “tested for accuracy” according to the regulations, the intoxilyzer was never “calibrated”. 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1547(c)(1) states: “(d)evices shall have been calibrated and tested for accuracy within a period of time and in a manner specified by regulations of the Departments of Health and Transportation”. I believe the statute mandated creation of, and compliance with, the calibration regulations as a condition precedent to the admissibility of test results. However, the Departments of Health and Transportation had not promulgated testing regulations regarding “calibration” as they had done for “accuracy” at the time Appellant was administered the intoxilyzer. Such regulations were later enacted and the Departments of Health and Transportation now require annual calibration of breath testing equipment. See: 67 Pa.Code § 77.26(a), adopted December 21, 1984, effective December 22, 1984.
Other jurisdictions have considered similar situations in which a statute had delegated the authority to promulgate rules or regulations to an administrative agency. Where the rules or regulations pertaining to conducting a test of blood alcohol concentration were not promulgated by the administrative agency which was delegated the authority to do so by statute, the courts have held the test results to be inadmissible. See: State v. Jones, La., 316 So.2d 100 (1975); State v. Karol, — La.—, 316 So.2d 106 (1975); State v. Gallant, 108 N.H. 72, 227 A.2d 597 (1967), (which held the requirements of the statute were mandatory and not permissive).
A test for calibration serves a different purpose than a test for accuracy. See: Commonwealth v. Simmeth, 133 P.L.J. 242 (1984). The regulations, in describing a test for accuracy, proscribe the use of a standard level of solution *590(.10 percent). Five vials of this solution must be tested in the device. To establish the intoxilyzer’s accuracy the same level of alcohol concentration should register. On the other hand, a test for calibration measures graduated levels. This process insures the correct value of each scale reading on the instrument, whereas with an accuracy test the machine’s validity is established at only one particular level.
After examining the distinct purpose of each test procedure, it appears clear why the legislature foresaw the need to require both calibration and accuracy tests before a subject's intoxilyzer results could be deemed accurate. The necessity for such a requirement becomes readily apparent when considering the tremendous significance attributed to intoxilyzer and breathalyzer results in establishing a defendant’s guilt or innocence. Regardless of the general reliability of these devices, the heavy reliance placed upon the results obtained from these tests necessitates that the directives of the statute requiring proscribed methods for calibration and accuracy testing be followed to insure the device was functioning properly at the time of its administration.
In Commonwealth v. Hess, 349 Pa.Super. 440, 503 A.2d 448 (1986), this court considered a situation where the approval of the device and the procedures for administrating the test in accordance with 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1547(c)(1) were satisfied prior to trial but not prior to administration of the test. The court stated: “It cannot be said that the reliability of the test result is vitiated if approval of the device and the procedures comes after the administration of the test.” Id., 349 Pa.Superior Ct. at 442, 503 A.2d at 449. (emphasis added). In the instant case, however, the lack of calibration testing did involve the reliability of the test result. Further there was no testimony that the device was calibrated within one year of its administration to Appellant as required under the later developed regulations of the Departments of Health and Transportation.
Prior to admitting a defendant’s test results into evidence, the breath testing instrument must be both calibrat*591ed and tested for accuracy in accordance with regulations developed by the Departments of Health and Transportation. Inasmuch as the Departments of Health and Transportation had failed to promulgate regulations regarding calibration, in addition to those already created regarding accuracy, the testing instrument utilized in this case was not calibrated as required. For these reasons, I believe this court has no choice but to rule the intoxilyzer results herein inadmissible, vacate Appellant’s judgments of sentence on these charges and remand the case for a new trial.