Alcotest Discovery in New Jersey DWI Cases: What Do I Need to Obtain

In a New Jersey DWI case, there are many documents that the State must provide you so that you can defend your case. This is called “discovery”. The discovery includes everything from the stop of your vehicle, through the roadside testing, to the breath or blood testing, and your release from police custody.

In order for the prosecutor to get Alcotest results admitted into evidence against you, the State must establish that: (1) the machine was in working order and had been inspected according to procedure; (2) the police officer who ran the testing on the machine was certified to do so; and, (3) the test was administered according to official procedure.

A significant challenge to the machine and admission of the Alcotest results is whether the machine was in “proper working order”. There are three core foundational documents that the State must admit into evidence to establish this:

(1) the most recent Calibration Report prior to your test, including control tests, linearity tests, and the credentials of the state trooper coordinator who performed the calibration;
(2) the most recent New Standard Solution Report prior to your test; and,
(3) the Certificate of Analysis of the 0.10 Simulator Solution used in your control tests.

There are additional documents that you or your attorney will need in order to challenge the functionality or operability of the Alcotest in your case. These are referred to as twelve non-core foundational documents:

(1) Calibrating Unit, New Standard Solution Report, most recent change, and the operator’s credentials of the officer who performed that change;
(2) Certificate of Analysis 0.10 Percent Solution used in New Solution Report;
(3) Draeger Safety Certificate of Accuracy Alcotest CU34 Simulator;
(4) Draeger Safety Certificate of Accuracy Alcotest 7110 Temperature Probe;
(5) Draeger Safety Certificate of Accuracy Alcotest 7110 Instrument (unless more relevant NJ Calibration Records (including both Parts I and II are offered));
(6) Calibration Check (including both control tests and linearity tests and the credentials of the operator/coordinator who performed the tests);
(7) Certificate of Analysis 0.10 Percent Solution (used in Calibration-Control);
(8) Certificate of Analysis 0.04, 0.08, and 0.16 Percent Solution (used in Calibration-Linearity);
(9) Calibrating Unit, New Standard Solution Report, following Calibration;
(10) Draeger Safety Certificate of Accuracy Alcotest CU34 Simulator for the three simulators used in the 0.04, 0.08, and 0.16 percent solutions when conducting the Calibration-Linearity tests;
(11) Draeger Safety Certificate of Accuracy Alcotest 7110 Temperature Probe used in the Calibration tests; and,
(12) Draeger Safety, Ertco-Hart Digital Temperature Measuring System Report of Calibration, NIST traceability.

Once you have these documents, you can then determine whether additional material is needed, such as repair records for the machine, and most importantly the digital data logs from the Alcotest used in your testing.

This information is very complex and the defenses to the Alcotest are nuanced. It is important to have a qualified DWI defense attorney obtain all relevant discovery for you, and evaluate the possible defenses to your case. Often, in addition to your attorney reviewing the discovery, an expert on the machine data logs may be of assistance in providing additional defenses to the breath testing results.