State v. Damon

¶1 We once again address the issue of whether the State may admit the results of a defendant’s Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) as substantive evidence at trial. We earlier held in State v. Strizich (1997), 286 Mont. 1, 952 P.2d 1365, State v. Weldele, 2003 MT 117, 315 Mont. 452, 69 P.3d 1162, and State v. Snell, 2004 MT 334, 324 Mont. 173, 103 P.3d 503, that the State had failed to prove the PBT’s statistical reliability and therefore rejected it as substantive evidence. The Eighth Judicial District Court, Cascade County, found in this case, however, that the State had presented sufficient…