A Vermont judge has thrown out key evidence in 25 drunken driving cases.
Judge Howard VanBenthuysen of the Orleans County criminal court says there's insufficient scientific evidence linking breath tests taken hours after a roadside stop to a driver being drunk at the time of operation.
Defense attorney David Sleigh calls the decision a big victory for DUI defendants who have tried to challenge so called "relate-back" evidence.
That's when police and prosecutors try to calculate a person's blood-alcohol content at the time he or she was driving from a breath test taken later.
In Monday's decision, the judge cited scientific evidence to show the rate at which alcohol leaves the body can vary widely.
Gregory Nagurney, the state's top impaired driving prosecutor, said he couldn't comment on the cases.
