State v. Sliger

Summary

The court held that the State established prima facie admissibility of Sliger’s Draeger breath-test results because expert testimony showed that the tiny tobacco strands in his teeth did not affect the test’s reliability or accuracy. It interpreted “any foreign substance” to mean a substance present in an amount capable of affecting test reliability, rather than every quantity of any substance. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals; Justice González concurred in the result on the ground that Sliger’s denial supported a reasonable inference of no more than a de minimis substance, while Justice Mungia would have reversed because the visible tobacco violated the statutory requirement.