State v. O'BRIAN’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Further, the testimony at trial sufficiently explained the reason for the low calibration checks on May 26, 1987 and the lack of effect such low readings would have had on the accuracy of the appellant’s breath tests. As Newhouse testified, the low calibration readings of 0.060 and 0.062 on May 26, 1987 were due to a general . decrease in the alcohol concentration of the simulator solution because of its repeated use over the prior four to five month period. The Crime Lab instructed all officers operating the Intoxilyzer 5000 to change the simulator solution once a month to prevent this decrease in the solution’s alcohol concentration, but the officers failed to do so. Consequently, many calibration checks such as the ones run on May 26, 1987 proved essentially worthless because of the unknown alcohol concentration of the simulator solution. However, these invalid calibration checks had no bearing on the validity of the defendant’s breath test for, as stated by Newhouse, ‘calibration checks are entirely independent of the breath tests. ‘The low calibration readings thus were not indicative of a faulty instrument, but only of a gradually diminished alcohol content in the simulator solution. We therefore hold that the District Court did not err in holding that the Intoxilyzer 5000 test was administered in substantial compliance with the Administrative Rules of Montana.” (Énfasis nuestro).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Pueblo v. Quiñones Cardona