While it is common knowledge that Georgia’s Intoxilyzer 5000 DUI test results are often inaccurate, did you know that this device can be gender and racially biased?
If you are a woman or an African-American, and your DUI arrest is based on a breath test, you have good cause to seek the help of an experienced Georgia DUI defense attorney. Some evidence suggests that the Intoxilyzer 5000 actually discriminates against DUI defendants.
In 2008 a Shelton, Connecticut defense attorney appeared before the state Department of Motor Vehicles with evidence that the device is unfair to women and blacks. In the hearings, Dr. Michael Hiastala, from the University of Washington, testified that when a woman and a man ingest the exact same amount of alcohol, the woman’s Intoxilyzer 5000 results will be greater than the man’s.
Hiastala said that, “a 5.6 percent margin of error is implicit in every case where a woman is the arrestee giving the breath sample.”
In addition, he testified that the average lung capacity of an African-American male is about 3% less than that of a Caucasian male, stating, “Because of the smaller capacity, an arrestee must expel a greater fraction of his lung capacity, the Intoxilyzer 5000 results are inflated by a factor of 3 percent.”
In other research, it has been found that the lining of women’s stomachs has less of an enzyme, gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, than men’s do. Because this enzyme breaks down alcohol in your body, women drinking the same amount of alcohol as men, with the differences in weight factored in, could drink from 20 to 30 percent less and get the same breath test results.
For advice and more information on these matters, contact us at the Alpharetta Law Office of Scott Miller. We have the experience in north Georgia DUI defense you need to be properly represented.
