Opinion

Pierce v. State ex rel. Department of Public Safety

  • 64 O.B.A.J. 2503
  • 856 P.2d 1017
  • 1993 OK CIV APP 106
  • 1993 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 86
  • 1993 WL 278313
Court
Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
Filed
Jun 1, 1993
Status
Published
Author
Taylor
On the bench
Boudreau, Stubblefield, Taylor
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 23.0%

The opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TAYLOR, Judge.

Pierce seeks review of an order suspending his driver’s license for driving under the influence of alcohol on the grounds that the intoxilyzer machine’s test was not administered in accordance with the rules promulgated by the Board of Tests for Alcohol and Drug Influence. We hold the test was properly administered and affirm.

On July 3, 1992, Pierce was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and consented to taking the intoxilyzer test. Pierce’s test results were 0.17 g/210L alcohol concentration. He requested an administrative hearing at the conclusion of which his license revocation was sustained.

Pierce then appealed to the district court which in turn held a hearing and affirmed the revocation. It is from this order that Pierce appeals on the single issue of wheth *1018 er the test was administered in accordance with the rules adopted by the Board of Tests. 47 O.S.1991 § 759(C).

It is uncontroverted that the Board’s regulations provide that to test the instrument’s accuracy, a test of a controlled sample of known concentration must register sample test results that are within one one-hundredths gram per two hundred ten liters ( + or — 0.01 g/210L). It is also uncontested that the Board’s regulations provide that such results be reduced to two digits to the right of the decimal point.

Pierce contends that to be accurate a sample test result must be three digits to the right of the decimal point. The control test result in Pierce’s case was .11. Pierce contends that in order to be accurate the machine’s numerical tests results must be within a plus or minus .01, and that .110, or any figure up to .119, would not be within the tolerance limits of a plus or minus .01 as set by the Board.

The machine used in the testing of Pierce was capable of only reading numerical sample tests results two digits to the right of the decimal point. In this case of first impression on the very narrow issue presented by Pierce, we hold that accuracy beyond two digits is not required by the statutory and regulatory provisions of Section 759(C). See State v. Acosta, 112 Or.App. 191 , 827 P.2d 1368 (1992).

AFFIRMED.

BOUDREAU, P.J., and STUBBLEFIELD, J., concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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