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20,667 Drunken-Driving Convictions Tainted by Bad Breathalyzer Test in New Jersey

New Jersey’s high court has ruled that breathalyzer tests in five of the state’s 21 counties were inadmissible, throwing into doubt more than 20,000 drunken-driving convictions.Credit...Joe Lamberti/Camden Courier-Post, via Associated Press

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More than 20,000 drunken-driving convictions in New Jersey could be in jeopardy after the state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday that breathalyzer tests used to win those judgments were inadmissible.

The unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court stems from criminal charges brought more than two years ago against a State Police sergeant who was accused of falsifying calibration records on breath test devices that were used in five of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

It is unclear how state courts and law enforcement officials will now proceed. The Supreme Court ruling does not automatically expunge all the drunken-driving convictions, but the justices did note that defendants tested by the affected breath machines could now seek to challenge their convictions. The decision also raises questions about cases that are still moving through the judicial system.

“We’ll be issuing guidance shortly for our county prosecutors and municipal prosecutors over how to handle those cases,” Gurbir Grewal, the New Jersey attorney general, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“But let me just say on a broader level, we work too hard at the attorney’s office across the state to build trust in our system,’’ he added, “so whenever and wherever it’s undermined, it’s troubling to me.”

Matthew W. Reisig, a lawyer who defends many drunken-driving cases in the New Jersey, said that he was expecting “a hornet’s nest” in the courts in the coming months because the decision on Tuesday failed to define exactly who could challenge their convictions. The estimated number of cases affected by the tainted tests and the court’s ruling may be inaccurate, Mr. Reisig said.

“The state at some point is going to notify people, but we don’t know if they are notifying the correct people,” he said. “I have zero confidence that the state knows who the affected people are.”

The ruling is the latest development in an odd case that began more than two years ago, when Sgt. Marc W. Dennis, whose duties included calibrating breath test devices, was charged with falsely certifying that he had followed proper calibration procedures.

As a result, the accuracy of all the breath tests that he calibrated, known in New Jersey as Alcotests, could not be trusted, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled.

“Confidence in the reliability of instruments of technology used as evidence is of paramount importance,” the court wrote. “Unfortunately, alleged human failings have cast doubt on the calibration process.”

Mr. Dennis, who was indicted in December 2016, is currently facing criminal charges in Monmouth County. After his indictment, the attorney general’s office notified court officials that breath samples from 20,667 people taken by machines calibrated by Mr. Dennis had been used in driving under the influence cases between 2008 and 2016. The affected machines were in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset and Union counties.

The legal challenge began when Eileen Cassidy learned that the results of her alcohol breath test were among those affected by Mr. Dennis’s alleged tampering.

She was in prison at the time after pleading guilty in September 2016 to her third drunken-driving offense, based primarily on the results of a breathalyzer test. In New Jersey, a third drunken-driving offense carries a mandatory 180-day sentence.

Michael R. Hobbie, Ms. Cassidy’s lawyer, was informed by the state two weeks into her sentence about the possibility that the breath results were tainted by misconduct. Ms. Cassidy then filed a lawsuit, leading to the appointment of a special master to determine whether the breath tests could be trusted.

The decision on Tuesday vacated Ms. Cassidy’s final conviction, and the judges indicated that other defendants similarly impacted could now act.

Ms. Cassidy died of cancer in March at age 54, according to her obituary.

In New Jersey, a first D.W.I offense leads to the revocation of a driver’s license for three months to a year; a second offense leads to the suspension of a license for a year; and a third offense carries mandatory jail time and 10 years without a license. Because of the progressive nature of the punishments, Mr. Hobbie said he would expect many people to now petition the courts to have their cases vacated.

“We never want to encourage people to drink and drive,” Mr. Hobbie said. “But these people, they were found guilty based on tainted evidence. And they have a right to due process to go back and have their cases reopened to see if the state can sustain its case without the breathalyzer.”

Follow Nick Corasaniti and Sharon Otterman on Twitter: @NYTnickc and @sharonNYT

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: 20,667 Breathalyzer Test Results Are Ruled Inadmissible in New Jersey. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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