New Jersey Supreme Court finds breathalyzer inadmissible in 20,000 drunk driving cases News
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New Jersey Supreme Court finds breathalyzer inadmissible in 20,000 drunk driving cases

The Supreme Court of New Jersey on Tuesday struck down the admissibility of breathalyzer tests used for nearly 20,667 drunk driving convictions due to a former officer’s misconduct in calibrating the devices.

New Jersey State Police’s Alcohol Drug Testing Unit coordinator Marc Dennis was indicted in 2016 for failing to properly calibrate the Alcotest breathalyzers used to charge accused drunk drivers. The state Attorney General’s office notified the Administrative Office of the Courts that the breathalyzers were used for evidential breath samples in 20,667 cases. One of those was Eileen Cassidy, the defendant, who challenged her drunk driving conviction upon learning this information.

The court’s holding requires the state reassess convictions that relied on the breathalyzer as evidence of drunk driving and to reassess pending cases, without considering the breathalyzer test results as evidence. The court also vacated the conviction of the Cassidy, who is now deceased, and was convicted solely on the improperly calibrated breathalyzer.