Massachusetts OUI lawyers will continue to raise Sixth Amendment confrontation issues to challenge the admission of breathalyzer evidence at trial in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. In Melendez-Diaz, the United States Supreme Court reversed a defendant's drug conviction because the defendant was denied his right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment by the Commonwealth introducing the drug analysis without live testimony of the chemist who conducted the analysis.
Prior to Melendez-Diaz, prosecutors in Massachusetts would prove that a substance was an illegal narcotics by introducing evidence of a drug certification showing that a chemist at the State lab tested the substance and concluded that it was an illegal narcotic. Often, the chemist would not even test the entire sample, but part of a sample and assume it was all consistent. The Massachusetts courts upheld that practice . The Melendez-Diaz will require that prosecutors summons in a chemist at a drug trial to prove that a substance is an illegal drug unless the defendant waives this right.
The Melendez-Diaz decision could also be applied in cases where the Commonwealth is trying to introduce breathalyzer test results into evidence. The Commonwealth must establish under the Barbeau case from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that the machine was periodically tested for accuracy. Typically, the Commonwealth calls the breathalyzer operator to testify, but does not always call the officer who performed the periodic testing and instead relies on the affidavit from the Office of Alcohol Testing to establish the periodic testing requirements.
Given the Melendez-Diaz decision, that reliance on an affidavit to establish the periodic testing and reliability of the machine could constitute a violation of a defendant's Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. The United States Supreme Court has taken a strong pro-defendant interpretation of the confrontation clause, with Justice Scalia authoring both the Melendez-Diaz decision and the Crawford decision. The Sixth Amendment remains a viable tool for the Massachusetts OUI lawyer to exclude breathalyzer test results from admission into evidence.
Attorney DelSignore is a Massachusetts OUI lawyer who has defended cases with breathalyzer readings and will review your case and go over the defenses available in your case. Attorney DelSignore will take your call immediately to discuss your case and defenses.
