Virginia DUI Blog

Virginia DUI/DWI Defense Lawyer, Michael C. Tillotson, Successfully Acquires Training On Controversial New Alcohol Breath Testing Equipment Area’s DUI/DWI attorney fights through deliberate efforts to restrict training access, seeks to defend clients against inaccuracies of new equipment. Virginia – October 26th, 2009 – Michael C. Tillotson, founding partner of the Law Office Michael C. Tillotson, LLC which defends clients accused of DUI/DWI in all of Virginia, went to great lengths to obtain training on Virginia’s new alcohol breath testing machine, thereby insuring his clients will be protected from unjust DUI/DWI convictions.

The ECIR II machine has become the sole model used for administering alcohol breath tests in the Commonwealth of Virginia, replacing the outdated Intoxilyzer 5000. This change has been accompanied by an attempt by the machine’s manufacturer, Intoximeters, Inc., and the Department of Forensic Science to block Virginia DUI/DWI attorneys from training with the new machines. The state making the ECIR II the key to its prosecution of DUI offenders, combined with the lack of opportunity for Virginia DUI attorneys to familiarize themselves with the new machines, makes Virginia citizens accused of DUI/DWI more vulnerable to conviction than ever before.

As an experienced attorney dedicated solely to defending DUI/DWI cases, Tillotson made it his duty to obtain the training on the ECIR II that is so critical to properly defending his clients’ rights. The lockdown on training in Virginia forced him to travel to Ohio, where he received over 12 hours of hands-on training and reviewed hundreds of slides and tests with a certified ECIR II trainer.

This training, along with his own independent investigation, led Tillotson to discover several flaws with the ECIR II that will prove crucial to defending his clients. A combination of factors could lead the ECIR II to produce inaccurate results, including unwarranted assumptions made on the individual being tested, inadequate alcohol detection in the mouth and mistaking certain chemicals for ethanol. Because the state will primarily rely on the data from these machines to prosecute DUI/DWI cases, now more than ever it is critical for those accused of DUI/DWI to have an experienced DUI/DWI attorney that is trained on the ECIR II and knows its weaknesses. Tillotson’s long track record of defending Virginia citizens in DUI/DWI cases, along with his extensive research into the weaknesses of the ECIR II, makes him a great ally to anyone facing a DUI charge in Virginia.