Legal Question in DUI Law in California

Re: High Blood Alcohol Level (.25) with only 2 champagnes! Why?

Many, many things can explain an unusually high BAC. First, certain foods themselves can cause a higher BAC to appear, such as breads or certain starchy foods. This may cause an inaccurate reading.

Lawyers are really not the best people to ask about this, believe it or not. It is the lawyers' expert-- the criminalist-- who is best able to elaborate on all the possibilites given a particular sample of blood.

Other factors including the preservation of the sample, the chain of custody (was it YOUR blood?) and the calibration machine or validity of the test used, and so many more items, can all explain a high BAC that may not be the result of excessive drinking.

Call if you have additional questions. Good luck. [email protected]

Re: High Blood Alcohol Level (.25) with only 2 champagnes! Why?

Wines (sparkling or the other kind) are 12% to 13% alcohol by volume. And then there's the synergistic affect in mixing this concoction with medication. Your size is also a factor. If you'd been a 300 pound guy in good physical (if there's such a thing) condition. You'd not have tested nearly as high. A glass is a pretty generic term. So there's no real measure to say how much wine (with its alcoholic content) you consumed. But the one thing for sure is that in their various forms. Wines are not lemonade.

Re: High Blood Alcohol Level (.25) with only 2 champagnes! Why?

What you have described is common. The forensic lab may have mixed your sample up, they may not have used enough preservative in the blood. This is important because the preservative prevents bacteria from growing in the blood sample. If bacteria begins to grow it can produce alcohol as a waste product. This would artificially increase the blood alcohol reading.

Further, sometimes the machine, a G.C. (Gas Chromatagraph) is not calibrated properly and will therefore give unusually high false negatives.

I have a M.S. degree in biophysical chemistry and one of the lab machines that I used in research was a gas chromatograph. Although these machines can be accurate, they are not infalible.

Call if you have any further questions.

Re: High Blood Alcohol Level (.25) with only 2 champagnes! Why?

Thanks for your posting. Between the opinions you have already received, I can only add that there are other possibilities. Blood alcohol level is a complicated thing, and depends on a number of different factors, including:

1. Your weight;

2. Your tolerance to alcohol;

3. How much you had to eat before drinking;

4. The timing of drinking vs. the blood test; and

5. Your metabolism.

Aside from that, there MIGHT be testing errors as Mr. Low discussed. A medical expert might also be able to testify regarding other factors and extrapolate what your blood alcohol level was at the time of DRIVING, which is the key issue, and may have been lower -- much lower -- than .25.

I hope this helped, but if you have any other questions, I am happy to assist you in any way that I can. Please feel free to email me at [email protected], or call my office toll free at 1-877-568-2977. Best of luck.