DUI Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Albuquerque New Mexico NM
Reader’s Question:
My cousin failed the field sobriety tests when he got arrested for DUI in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He told me that he also took the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. Is this test already been proven scientifically and being accepted as evidence in a DUI trial?
Randy
Albuquerque, NM
There is an arising conflict when courts are asked to determine the admissibility of novel scientific evidence such as the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test. Let’s take for example your cousin’s DUI case in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Initially, the court should ask if evidence is relevant in the DUI trial. For it to be relevant, the evidence should be probative of a material fact. If it will be deemed relevant, the court should address if the jury is familiar with the underlying science, as well as determine if the “science” is valid. Most of the jurors are not familiar with HGN and that would require expert testimony to help the jury in determining the test’s probative value.
A court suggested a trial judge to consider several factors when determining the admissibility of expert testimony. These factors include how reliable the results are in terms of potential error rates, if the underlying theory or technique has been subject to peer review and has been published in professional literature, if the evidence has been tested by scientific methodology and general acceptance. Research on the HGN test is limited but one study shows that arrests made based on HGN in suspected zone of 0.05% to 0.099% blood alcohol content are the most likely to produce most decision errors.
Tags: blood alcohol content, DUI, DUI lawyer, field sobriety tests
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