Michigan Criminal Lawyers Blog
Original Case Details
Earlier this year, the Michigan State Police suspended its contract with vendor Intoximeters who issues and calibrates their Datamaster machines. A Datamaster is the breath test you take at the police station if you have been arrested on an alcohol-related offense. The Michigan State Police suspended its contract with Intoximeters due to discrepancies in their maintenance records. This resulted in all 203 statewide Datamasters to be pulled from use to be checked and re-calibrated before going back into use. Upon further investigation, Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged two technicians that work with Intoximeters with felonies for their roles in faking repairs and diagnostic testing on the state’s Datamasters. The technicians, who are both in their 50s, are Andrew Clark of Oxford, and David John of Kalamazoo. Clark faces six felony charges while John faces nine felony charges for allegedly creating fake documents made to show that certain testing and repairs were done to the Datamasters when they actually were not serviced. There are two specific Datamasters in question; one at the Beverly Hills Police Department in Oakland County, and the other at the County Sheriff’s Office in Alpena.
Community Fallout
It is believed that there are over 50 cases that were affected by these fraudulent repairs and calibration. There were six cases in the Detroit Detention Center that used the faulty machines, those cases have since been dismissed. State police has said that seven departments were believed to have been affected by faulty Datamaster results. The Michigan State Police assumed control of and responsibility of maintenance for the Datamasters on January 10, 2020 and have continued to service these machines. The state police canceled its contract with Intoximeters in early April. The state remains confident that the Datamaster is a reliable machine when serviced properly and will continue to use the Datamaster machine for the forseeable future. The Datamaster readout is the single most important piece of evidence that the police can have against you if you are suspected to be involved in an alcohol-related offense, like an OWI/DUI. If the Datamaster results are faulty, then it is very hard to secure a conviction against someone charged with an OWI/DUI.
Charges Involved
As stated above, the now-former Intoximeters technicians now face felony charges for their alleged roles in fabricating calibration and repair documents related to the servicing of Datamasters. The charges are as follows:
• Andrew Clark – Two counts of forgery of a public record, two counts of uttering and publishing, and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
• David John – three counts of forgery of a public record, three counts of uttering and publishing, and three counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
The forgery and uttering and publishing charges each carry up to 14 years in prison, while the charges of using a computer to commit a crime carry up to 10 years in prison. It is unclear at the moment what the defense will be for these two men. The main issue in these crimes is the specific intent necessary to commit these crimes. A prosecutor will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these men intended to produce these fake documents to defraud the Michigan State Police. If these documents were somehow produced by mistake, then the defendants could potentially advance that defense with proper representation.
Any Further Questions?
If you or a loved one has been charged with an OWI/DUI and you had to blow into a Datamaster, then it is important to speak to an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately as the results may be faulty. At Grabel & Associates, our attorneys have over 100 years of combined experience in successfully defending criminal cases all over the state of Michigan. This experience extends not only to adult cases, but also to juvenile charges. We are not a general practice firm. We are a team of criminal defense attorneys; it’s all we do. We offer a FREE consultation to anyone with questions relating to a possible or existing criminal charge against them or a loved one. Feel free to contact us on our 24/7 defense line at 1-800-342-7896. You can also contact us online or come visit us at one of our three statewide locations. We can also come to you.