Newsletter - Traditional

Real Lawyer News

Serving Real Attorneys in Phoenix

DUIs on a regular basis.

Topics include, but are not limited to: "how HGN results help the defense, white, straight, and subtractive retrogrades, NHTSA driving cues, advanced retrograde calculations, P forms and ADAMS, variables in breath testing results, intox modifications and limitations," and many more.

The seminar location was originally the Tovrea family home built in 1911, a year before statehood. Mr. Tovrea was one of the distinguished persons who signed the original Arizona Constitution in 1912.

Part of the seminar will be held on the patio, so please dress appropriately for the weather. Free parking is available on the east side of the center.

Start clearing calendars and making arrangements for court coverage if you plan to attend.

Investigation Reveals Prosecutors Across U.S. Guilty of Hiding Evidence from Defense

A Chicago Tribune investigation of U.S.court records in homicide cases disclosed U.S. prosecutors concealed evidence that resulted in wrongful convictions, retrials, and appeals costing millions of tax dollars.

The investigation concluded prosecutors convicted black men, while knowing the real killers were white. Also, a wife was

prosecuted even though concealed evidence proved her husband committed suicide.

In another example, parents were prosecuted for their daughter’s death after prosecutors concealed her death was caused by wild dogs.

Over 381 homicide convictions were overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct.

A felony trial awaits three former prosecutors charged with conspiracy to frame Rolando Cruz, a former death row inmate for 10 years. Their felony convictions would be a first in the United States.

Continued from Page One - Girard and Calibration Tests

They routinely testified they knew of no way to preclude recording test results in ADAMS, Girard said.

Some state experts flatly denied there was any way to prevent the recording of calibration results, according to Girard. Others refused to answer, or stated they did not know, when confronted, he said.

It was a CMI user’s manual that first disclosed the IR5000 afforded a means to bypass the uploading of tests to the ADAMS system, according to Girard. CMI, Inc. manufactures the IR5000. The CMI user’s manual was given to Girard in 1996 in response to a discovery request, according to Girard. The manual revealed previously unknown switches on the IR5000. The manual was different from any CMI manual previously produced by PCL.

Since the manual’s initial production, however, no PCL employee has admitted seeing the manual before, or that it is actually a CMI manual, according to Girard.

The CMI manual was given to Girard by a Phoenix prosecutor. It was subsequently authenticated by Chester Flaxmayer in State v. Mendez-Mendez, heard before Judge Fransisca Cota. It was introduced into evidence over the city prosecutor’s objection, according to Girard.

Presence of switch 11 was never considered by Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals when it lauded the technological advances present in the IR5000 back in 1993 in Moss v. Superior Court, 175 Ariz. 348, 857 P.2d 400 (App.1983).

The presence of switch 11 raises serious questions about the integrity and impartiality of the ADAMS database, according to Girard.

Reliable testing and calibration records constitute the evidentiary foundation upon which courts rely when admitting breath test results, Girard said.

At trial the state must prove the IR5000 was working accurately before and after each defendant’s test, which is done by introducing before and after calibration records, said Girard.

If the records are potentially subject to deletion by PCL criminalists, then the integrity of the calibration results becomes highly suspect, according to a motion filed by Girard in Maricopa County Superior Court in State v. Meza.

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