odor of alcohol

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The Nose Doesn’t Always Know: Extrapolation Based on Odor Ruled Unreliable

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The Court of Appeals decided State v. Davis, 208 N.C. App. 26 (2010), last week, granting the defendant a new trial on second-degree murder, impaired driving and other charges arising from a fatal hit-and-run committed by the defendant after she had been drinking. While several aspects of the court’s opinion are noteworthy, this post focuses … Read more

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You Can’t Tell Just from the Smell

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I’ve been asked more than once about whether the odor of alcohol combined with a positive reading on a portable breath alcohol screening test device, such as an ALCO-SENSOR, without more, constitutes probable cause to believe that a defendant has committed the offense of impaired driving. My answer?  No.  My reasoning? First, you can’t tell … Read more