Friday, October 24, 2008

State's expert faked intoxilyzer maintenance records

An internal Department of Public Safety investigation has revealed that an unnamed Technical Supervisor faked inspection records of the Intoxi-liar. This criminal act has placed more than 2,600 DWI arrests in the Houston-area in question - and has raised serious doubts about the reliability of the state's alcohol breath testing program.

The person in question is a DPS-contractor and not an employee. The breath machines in question are located at:
  • Clute Police Department
  • Friendswood Police Department
  • Galveston Police Department
  • League City Police Department
  • Pearland Police Department
  • Seabrook Police Department
  • South Houston Police Department
  • Webster Police Department
Here is a (partial) listing of DPS-contracted technical supervisors in the Houston area :
  • Becky Cuculic (Chemco Analysis)
  • Vicky Amszi (Lone Star College)
  • Amanda Culbertson (H.P.D. Crime Lab)
  • Jano Chiu (H.P.D. Crime Lab)
  • Dee Wallace (Galveston County)
Of the aforementioned Technical Supervisors, only one, Dee Wallace, maintains the machines located at the police departments cited above.

(I once sent a request to Ms. Wallace for intoxilyzer maintenance and test records and received an invoice for $145 for the 140 records I requested. The most curious thing about the invoice was that I was asked to make the check payable to Boy Scout Troop 1221.)

For years attorneys have advised citizens to REFUSE any request to blow into the state's breath test machine due to inherent problems in the methodology of breath testing. Now here is another reason not to provide a breath specimen.

If you've been arrested for DWI, contact my office. I will fight to restore your name and reputation.
Check out these additional accounts:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. You know I was reading about that accident last weekend in the wee hours of Saturday morning along 610 when someone (in a pickup truck, I believe) crashed into the back of a disabled Nissan on the shoulder of the road. The driver of the truck refused to take the breathalyzer there and the comments (the story was at www.chron.com) all seemed to indicate that if you don't blow, you're guilty.

Maybe this guy wasn't so dumb after all.

Anonymous said...

You can refuse to blow into the intoxiliar in Texas? Do you still have to do blood? In California, by statute, refusal costs you big-time.