State v. Guidera

In State v. Guidera, 167 Vt. 598, 707 A.2d 704 (1998) (mem.), the defendant argued that the district court should have suppressed his breath test because the arresting officer had failed to observe him for fifteen minutes before administering the test to assure the absence of mouth alcohol. Although the Court indicated that we did not need to reach the argument presented because another sample had been taken, we pointed out that, under Rolfe, breath test results are admissible as long as the State could show that the analysis had been performed by an instrument that met the Department of Health's performance standards. Id. at 599-600, 707 A.2d at 705. The Court noted that the defendant was arguing merely that the officer had failed to employ the instrument properly, not that the instrument had failed to meet the performance standards. Id.