New DUI Test Rules Could Affect Hundreds

In a meeting Friday, the state Board of Tests for Alcohol and Drug Influence passed emergency rules after the state's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that board members had acted improperly when giving DUI breath tests using a device called the Intoxilyzer8000.

The court ruled the board had violated the state's Administrative Procedures Act by not allowing public comment on rules.

Under state law, the board isn't allowed to hand over decision making power to the executive director alone, which they had done when it came to how we test and use mouthpieces on the Intoxilyzer. 

It's a decision Oklahoma City DUI attorney John Hunsucker said may have impacted hundreds of Oklahomans whose cases have been on hold for 18 months or longer.

“It is law now, or case law, so all the judges have to follow that. So all those other cases, those people will be getting their drivers licenses back,” he said over the phone on Saturday.

In the end, the board said it will be using the breath tests approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which includes the Intoxilyzer 8000 meaning nothing may really change.

One member of the board told reporters they feel confident they've solved the issue and can now move forward with their duties, but Hunsucker said there's a bigger problem at work.

“The purpose of the board of tests was that they would look at the science and make sure that there's a scientific basis for what we do," Hunsucker said. “Now they've kind of taken the approach of science be darned. If it stands in the way of a conviction we're going to throw science out the window.”

Hunsucker added there is a challenge to the new rules being planned for the near future.