Sample Case #6

OV drank two drinks on Friday Evening with his meal after an extraordinary week at his job in maintenance at a local Oklahoma City Hospital. Most of the operating rooms had become contaminated due to introduction of water in them. His division had to take apart EVERYTHING in EACH room and clean each part of each piece of equipment with various solvents. He and all of his fellow employees had worked more than 70 hours that week. About two hours after he ate (and drank), he left for an apartment complex to which he and his girlfriend were preparing to move. As he turned into the complex, an Oklahoma City Police Officer stopped him for speeding. The officer had him do field tests and said he failed. He arrested OV for DUI (OV's third) and gave him a test on the 5000 with a result of greater than .10%.

Robert Zettl, former Director of Colorado's Board of Tests and field test expert was retained to test the solvents to which OV was exposed for the previous week. He discovered that more than one of these read in a 5000 as alcohol. The amount of alcohol that OV had consumed COULD NOT cause a failure of a properly given test. Further, the results of the field test, when thoroughly examined, showed that OV actually PASSED the field tests. He did not fail them.

The District Attorney would not acknowledge that ANYTHING could have caused the failed test except alcohol and OV was drunk. She would not negotiate. The jury trial was set and Zettl was summoned to come testify. On the day of trial, both of the supervising partners appeared at OV's counsel table, not one, as the DA expected. As the jury pool came in for the jury selection process, the DA crumpled and offered OV an unsupervised, deferred sentence (the case would be dismissed after a brief probation) and NO FINE OR JAIL.