District of Columbia § 50-2206.52 Admissibility of chemical test results.

District of Columbia Statutes

§ 50-2206.52 — Admissibility of chemical test results.

District of Columbia § 50-2206.52

JurisdictionDistrict of Columbia

Title 50Motor and Non-Motor Vehicles and Traffic.

Ch. 22Regulation of Traffic.

Subch. III-AImpaired Operating or Driving.

Part DEnforcement.

This text of District of Columbia § 50-2206.52 (Admissibility of chemical test results.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

D.C. Code § 50-2206.52 (2026).

Text

(a)Evidence from breath tests shall not be admitted in a criminal proceeding unless compliance with the following criteria has been shown:

(1)The breath test instrument on which the breath test was conducted was operated by either a certified breath test operator or certified technician;

(2)A certified breath test operator or certified technician observed the administration of the breath test and determined that no contamination by mouth alcohol occurred;

(3)A reference standard was analyzed in conjunction with the subject analyses, and the analytical results of the reference standard agreed with the predicted value within the acceptable range set by regulation pursuant to § 5-1501.07 ;

(4)Duplicate breath specimens were collected from the person and the analytical results

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(a) Evidence from breath tests shall not be admitted in a criminal proceeding unless compliance with the following criteria has been shown:

(1) The breath test instrument on which the breath test was conducted was operated by either a certified breath test operator or certified technician;

(2) A certified breath test operator or certified technician observed the administration of the breath test and determined that no contamination by mouth alcohol occurred;

(3) A reference standard was analyzed in conjunction with the subject analyses, and the analytical results of the reference standard agreed with the predicted value within the acceptable range set by regulation pursuant to § 5-1501.07 ;

(4) Duplicate breath specimens were collected from the person and the analytical results of the paired breath specimens were within the acceptable range set by regulation pursuant to § 5-1501.07 ;

(5) The breath test instrument analytically demonstrates the absence of ethanol before the testing of each breath specimen;

(6) Analytical results are expressed in grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath (g/210L); and

(7) The instrument on which the breath test was conducted had been tested within 180 days before the breath test and had been found to be accurate.

(1) Records of maintenance, set by regulation pursuant to § 5-1501.07 , shall be admissible in any proceeding as evidence of the operating condition of the breath test instrument at the time of the person’s breath test.

(2) Records of maintenance demonstrating that the instrument was in proper operating condition at the time of the person’s test shall be prima facie evidence that the instrument was functioning properly.

(c) The inability of any person to obtain either the manufacturer’s schematics or software for a quantitative breath testing device shall not affect the admissibility of the results of a breath test pursuant to this section.

Legislative History

Sept. 14, 1982, D.C. Law 4-145, § 3q; as added Apr. 27, 2013, D.C. Law 19-266, § 103(e)(3), 59 DCR 12957; Apr. 20, 2013, D.C. Law 19-260, § 4(a), 60 DCR 1292