If you are pulled over by a law enforcement officer on suspicion of drinking and driving, you may be asked to submit to a breath test. Roadside breath test devices are used by officers to determine whether you are driving with a blood alcohol content level that is over the legal limit. The problem lies in the fact that these devices do not always give reliable and accurate results. Some breath test devices may give readings that could falsely indicate you have a BAC that is over the legal limit, leading to an erroneous DUI charge.

Breath test devices are designed to measure the amount of alcohol contained in a breath sample. It then converts that amount to a blood alcohol content level. Research found that the amount of alcohol found in a breath test can be inflated by up to 15 percent from the actual amount of alcohol found in a person’s blood. This may partly be due to the fact that there are other factors that go into a breath test reading. For example, a study conducted by the State University of New York at Potsdam found that substances, such as environmental pollution, cigarette smoke, gasoline fumes and even residual food, blood and drink left in a person’s mouth can affect the breath test reading.

Other factors, including the temperature and humidity of the air, whether the breath test device has been accurately calibrated or if the law enforcement officer is using the device correctly, may also pay a part in the overall reading.

This information is intended to educate and should not be taken as legal advice.

If you’ve been charged with a crime, the prosecution may give you the chance to make a deal—known as a plea bargain. Typically, a plea bargain works like this: You get charged with a crime. The prosecution tells you that if you plead guilty to a specific lesser crime, you can skip the trial—thereby avoiding the more severe penalties you would have received if you were found guilty of the crime from your original charge.

For many defendants, the question of whether it’s a good idea to accept a plea bargain is extremely nerve-wracking. On the one hand, by accepting the deal, you’re guaranteed to face some penalties—probably including some jail time. On the other hand, facing those penalties is a better outcome than the worst case scenario.

For example, let’s say you were driving while intoxicated and crashed into another car—killing the other driver. The police found your blood alcohol concentration to be .19. In this case, you would be charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter. You could be looking at up to 15 years in prison plus $5,000 in fines.

However, if the prosecution offers you a deal to plead guilty to the lesser crime of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, your prison sentence would drop to a maximum of seven years. Under such circumstances, you need to decide whether there is sufficient evidence stacked against you to convict you of the original crime. If there is, you might decide that saving yourself from an extra eight years in prison is a worthwhile trade.

While the decision to accept or reject a plea bargain is always personal—and many deciding factors depend on the specifics of your case—an experienced criminal defense attorney can offer you valuable guidance in the process.