SPRINGFIELD — More than a decade after breath test evidence in drunken driving prosecutions came under heavy fire, legal advocates argue the state system of evaluating that evidence is still flawed.
Policies around Breathalyzer tests have flip-flopped as a result of a class action lawsuit and a 2023 decision by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The test results were excluded from evidence in prosecutions from 2011 to 2019, when 27,000 defendants were afforded opportunities for new trials or to withdraw guilty pleas.
