Dean Spencer v. Utah
Privacy
Whether conflicting toxicological testimony with measurement errors can support a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt finding of blood alcohol concentration above the legal threshold
1. In an alcohol DUI prosecution where the only question was if Mr. Spencer’s BAC was above Utah’s then-applicable per se threshold of 0.08, two toxicologists testified to Mr. Spencer’s BAC according to their respective toxicological analysis. One testified that his BAC was 0.79, and the other testified that it was 0.08. Both testified that both results were within known measurement errors and were correct measurements. The question is whether this evidence was sufficient to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Spencer’s BAC was 0.80 or above.