Portland Maine OUI Breath Testing

Breath Testing
The State of Maine uses the Intoxilyzer 5000EN to determine how much alcohol is in your blood by testing a sample of your breath. The Intoxilyzer allows police agencies to use the fastest and least expensive method of testing alcohol quantity in a person’s blood. The person submits a breath sample, which in turn is analyzed by the machine to determine your blood alcohol content. The breath sample you provided is converted into a blood alcohol content. At first blush it would appear that a breath sample in excess of .08% is an open and shut case for the State. However, the Intoxilzyer 5000EN is far from perfect and many innocent and sober persons have been wrongly accused and charged with OUI based solely on the breath test result from an Intoxilyzer 5000EN.

The Intoxilyzer 5000EN is nothing more than an unsophisticated computer. The program language which governs the operation of the computer was written by people who set forth basic assumptions to determine how the computer is going to operate. The assumptions are based on “averages”, ie, average people. That means the Intoxilzer 5000EN doesn’t take into account your age, weight, sex, ethnicity or occupation. Believe it or not, your weight, age and gender can play a large part in determining your blood alcohol content (or BAC). Women are at a greater disadvantage than are men because they generally have a higher body fat percentage, and therefore, an in proportionate blood alcohol reading. There are many reasons for why a person may have a high BAC when they provide a breath sample and not all of them are due to the test subject being intoxicated.