Commonwealth v. Madden

When arrested for operating a car while under the influence of alcohol, the defendant Madden was driving left of the center line, smelled of liquor, was red-eyed and slurry of speech. He failed field sobriety tests (alphabet, nine-step, toe-heel, walk-the-straight-line, one-leg stand). At the police station house he submitted to breathalyzer tests on which the percentage, by weight, of alcohol in his blood registered as .18 and .19. A factor of .10 is sufficient to trigger a statutory presumption of intoxication, G. L. c. 90, § 24(1)(e), as amended through St. 1980, c. 383, § 1, and immediate…