DUI Defense
Most Tennessee DUI cases rise or fall on a number — a breath or blood alcohol result the State treats as settled fact. It is not. Breath and blood testing involves machines, procedures, chain-of-custody rules, and human beings, and each step is a place where the State’s proof can fail. Brooks Law Firm reviews the testing in every DUI case we handle. Patrick Brooks is a member of the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD) and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (TACDL), and applies the current science of forensic alcohol testing to every result. Call (901) 324-5000 for a free consultation.
Implied Consent: What You Agreed To by Driving
Tennessee’s implied consent law, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-406, provides that anyone driving on Tennessee roads has consented to a breath or blood test when an officer has probable cause to believe they are driving under the influence. Refusing carries its own consequence — a license revocation of at least one year even if the DUI itself is never proven — and in many cases officers respond to a refusal by seeking a search warrant for a blood draw. Whether the officer followed the implied consent procedures, properly advised you, and lawfully obtained any warrant are all questions we examine.
How Breath Tests Go Wrong
Tennessee courts require strict compliance with testing protocol — including the requirement, under the Sensing line of cases, that the operator observe the subject for twenty minutes before the test to rule out anything that could contaminate the sample. Beyond the observation period, breath results can be attacked on the machine’s maintenance and calibration records, the operator’s certification, radio frequency interference, mouth alcohol from belching or reflux, and the physiological assumptions the machine makes about every person who blows into it. A number is only as good as the process that produced it, and the records that prove the process are discoverable.
How Blood Tests Go Wrong
Blood cases look stronger for the State, and often are not. The draw must be performed by qualified personnel using the right kit; the tubes must contain proper preservative and anticoagulant and be adequately mixed; the sample must be stored and transported correctly; and the chain of custody from your arm to the TBI crime laboratory must be unbroken and documented. Fermentation in an improperly preserved sample can create alcohol in the tube that was never in your body. Where the draw was compelled, the warrant and its execution get their own constitutional review. If the stop itself was unlawful, everything that followed — including the blood — can be suppressed.
What This Means for Your Case
A test result is the beginning of the State’s proof, not the end of your case. When the testing evidence weakens, everything about the case changes — from the strength of the State’s trial position to the resolutions available. We obtain and review the maintenance logs, certification records, lab documentation, and video in every testing case, and we handle the court appearances while treating your case the way we would a family member’s. If you took a test — or refused one — anywhere in Memphis, Shelby County, or West Tennessee, call Brooks Law Firm at (901) 324-5000 before you decide anything about your case. Related reading: what happens after a first DUI in Memphis, suspended license defense, and felony and repeat DUI.