Lawyer believes breath tests to be inadmissible

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - A defense attorney believes that breath tests administered by the Guam Police Department are inadmissible.  Attorney Howard Trapp has filed an objection in one of his client's driving under the influence cases.  But after doing some research Attorney Trapp believes the Guam Legislature didn't adequately address the issue when it passed the statute. 

When a person is arrested for DUI, they are given a breath test and if a person has a blood alcohol content of .08 or greater, there is a presumption that the individual was driving while under the influence. 

But Trapp doesn't believe that's always the case, saying, "You could have .08 and not be under the influence. Some alcoholics not my clients, but these are cases that don't have priors, but some others might be alcoholics and they can probably drive. 08, .09, .1 and really not be under the influence because they're so used to having alcohol in their blood that they've totally adjusted to it."

As a result of his findings, Attorney Trapp has objected to the admission of any evidence of the breath test conducted in connection with his client's case as he also believes that the prosecution must show that the instrument for the test was properly checked and working at the time of the test, the chemicals employed in the test were correct and that the person had nothing in his mouth at the time of the test and had not taken food or drink within 15 minutes prior to taking the test.