Beer Magnate Peter Coors finds himself in a pickle. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4070933
The myth of ".08" is in a jam.
The advocates of the NeoProhibition have had success in recent years in getting state legislatures to drop the "legal limit" from .10 to .08. NHTSA got on board and retrofitted their "field sobriety tests." http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/SFST/contents.htm There have been recent pushes by MADD and the like to drop the limit even further -- to .05. At that point, we truly have a "zero tolerance" situation where ingesting any alcohol before operating a motor vehicle exposes one to criminal liablity. (For more on NeoProhibition, go here- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171383,00.html )
It may all come crashing down in a courtroom in Colorado over the next few months where prosecutors face the uphill battle of bolstering their "opinion crime" case with a marginal breath test result.
The public and the media will follow the case of Peter Coors because of the giggle factor involved. Coors can afford the best defense with experts from around the country and world. Law enforcement has its hands full. Not only is the state's case probably tough to prove, the public will be educated on the pitfalls of the machine itself, retrograde extrapolation, reference sample temperature, breath temperature, body temperature, partition ratio and the myriad of other factors that make the breath test result an arbitrary number.
The case is also worth watching because of the policy implications involved. I was shocked to see Coors' comments after his arrest. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5184214.stm I'd hazard a guess that he had not talked to defense lawyer yet at that point, and was receiving advice from corporate lawyers and watching the price of his company's stock. At play here, Coors constitutional rights, his desire not to offend the Neo-Prohibitionists, and law enforcement backing of a mythical .08 standard.
If only Dr. Hunter S. Thompson were here to chronicle it all.
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