How Are Blood Tests Challenged In An Oui Case In Maine?

If you were arrested for an OUI in Maine, then it is quite possible a blood sample was taken. A blood sample to determine a person’s blood alcohol content is more reliable and accurate than a breath test. Because of its general reliability and accuracy, OUI clients are often scared their case cannot successfully be defended.

But your OUI in Maine can be defended – even when a blood test was administered. Here’s what an experienced will do to identify areas to challenge when a blood test has been taken.

Scrutinize The Circumstances Surrounding The Taking Of The Blood Sample

Whoever draws your blood must be legally certified to do so. That means more often than not a police officer cannot draw blood. It will likely have to be done by a nurse, phlebotomist, or a doctor – whichever is available.

After making sure the person who drew your blood was legally allowed to do so, your attorney will inquire into if the process was conducted right. The blood draw site must have been sterilized with an alcohol product or prevent contamination. Other details may also prove important to the process.

Scrutinize The Handling Of The Blood Sample

When the blood sample is taken, it is handled by a number of people known as the chain of custody. The police document each step the blood sample takes, from blood draw to the toxicologist to the officer filing the blood test into evidence. If the blood sample of mishandled at all, the results can be challenged.

Challenge The Technology

The blood test result is only as good as the technology used to test it. Some equipment may not have been maintained properly. Some equipment may have had some kind of defect. If anything is questionable about the equipment and technology, the blood test can again be challenged.

Scrutinize The Results Of The Blood Sample

An attorney who understands blood samples and how blood alcohol increases and decreases in the body will be able to identify when the blood test results are not necessarily indicative of the unlawful operation of a vehicle while intoxicated.

Part of this may involve what’s known as the rising blood alcohol defense – your blood alcohol level rises from the time you drink the alcoholic beverage up until another 2 hours. It keeps rising and so what the blood test results show may not be indicative of what your blood alcohol level was at the time of the arrest – it can take some time before a certified person arrives to take a blood draw and while you wait, your blood alcohol content increases.

An experienced OUI attorney will take all measures to get the results from a blood test excluded from evidence. But it takes an experienced OUI attorney to understand the technical and scientific nature of blood tests. An OUI attorney without this important skill cannot identify and properly address concerns over blood test results.

If you were arrested for an OUI and had to submit to a blood test, contact an experienced OUI attorney in Maine – and get the best defense you deserve for your unique OUI case.