In Ohio, if you refuse to take a breathalyzer test you will immediately lose your license for one (1) year on a first offense within a 10-year period and you will not be able to drive for at least 30 days. The penalties increase dramatically for each time that you refuse to take a breathalyzer test within a 10-year period of time.
PBT stands for Portable Breath Test. These are tests typically offered by police officers during traffic stops to assist them in gathering evidence. These tests are not admissible during a trial, but they are admissible at an evidentiary hearing before a judge to support probable cause for the OVI arrest. Therein lies the danger of taking a PBT during a traffic stop.
It is difficult to answer this question without knowing all the particular facts of a case. It is also difficult to advise someone to refuse to take a test that may be required by law for a person to take. Generally, there is no law in Ohio that requires a person to take field sobriety tests. The law in Ohio requires that a person has to take a breathalyzer test or other test if arrested for an OVI and asked to submit to a test.
My position is that breath tests and other tests including field sobriety tests are dangerous tests to take especially if you are not confident in how you will perform on the tests. By taking these tests you may provide the State of Ohio with incriminating evidence of your guilt.
It is impossible to answer this question uniformly, as different factors can affect blood alcohol content (BAC), such as gender, body weight, tolerance, when a person last ate, and the alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage of the drink consumed. The best advice is not to drive after having consumed any alcohol. This will keep you from having to guess when getting in your car after drinking.
Portable Breath Tests are often used on the roadside by police officers during OVI/DUI traffic stops in an effort to corroborate all other evidence and to confirm police judgment as to whether an individual is impaired.
It is important to know your rights during an OVI/DUI traffic stop. There is no law in Ohio requiring an individual to submit to a Portable Breath Test at the request of a police officer during an OVI/DUI traffic stop. Prosecutors can’t admit the results of Portable Breath Tests at trial in order to convict individuals for OVI offenses or DUI offenses or in OVI/DUI cases throughout Ohio. The results of Portable Breath Tests, however, can be admitted in court to prove that probable cause existed for police to arrest an individual for an OVI/DUI offense.
Police agencies throughout Ohio often use many different brands of Portable Breath Tests and there is no uniform standard for testing and calibrating such devices. As such, the results of Portable Breath Tests are not considered sufficiently reliable to prove an OVI/DUI conviction at trial. The reality is that the results of Portable Breath Tests can only hurt an individual’s OVI/DUI case.
Criminal defense attorney Michael Probst has represented many clients arrested and charged with an OVI/DUI offense in Columbus and throughout Ohio who have made challenges that involve Portable Breath Tests administered by police officers during OVI/DUI traffic stops. It is extremely important in every case to review all evidence, including the results of Portable Breath Tests, in Columbus OVI/DUI cases and OVI/DUI cases throughout Ohio. Our DUI attorney has the knowledge and experience to attack and defend many kinds of OVI/DUI cases, including those OVI/DUI cases where individuals have submitted to Portable Breath Tests during OVI/DUI traffic stops.
Contact Probst Law Office or call Michael S. Probst today at tel: 614-232-8890.
