State's Failure To Produce Alcotest Data Not Cause For Suppression - State v. Macri (A-0255-13T4)
Monday, March 17, 2014
Per The NJ Law Journal:
"Although DWI defendants have the right to obtain all data about the Alcotest machines used to test them, the state's failure to provide the data due to a technical glitch is not cause to suppress machine readings, a New Jersey appeals court says.
"The loss of data caused by the failure of a machine's motherboard did not amount to a denial of due process, since there was no showing of bad faith by the state and the lost data was only potentially useful, the Appellate Division held."
***
"On Friday, Judges Joseph Yanotti and George Leone reversed in State v. Macri, finding Reddin had misapplied precedents that made data about Alcotest available to defendants in discovery.
"The state provided the 'foundational documents' required by State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), to show the machine was in good working order, and there was no evidence the mother board failure impacted the machine's ability to produce reliable test results, the judges said."
Full article and decision after the jump...
"Although DWI defendants have the right to obtain all data about the Alcotest machines used to test them, the state's failure to provide the data due to a technical glitch is not cause to suppress machine readings, a New Jersey appeals court says.
"The loss of data caused by the failure of a machine's motherboard did not amount to a denial of due process, since there was no showing of bad faith by the state and the lost data was only potentially useful, the Appellate Division held."
***
"On Friday, Judges Joseph Yanotti and George Leone reversed in State v. Macri, finding Reddin had misapplied precedents that made data about Alcotest available to defendants in discovery.
"The state provided the 'foundational documents' required by State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), to show the machine was in good working order, and there was no evidence the mother board failure impacted the machine's ability to produce reliable test results, the judges said."
Full article and decision after the jump...