Rawlings

Defendant was charged in a complaint filed in the Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District with violating Vehicle Code section 23102, subdivision (a) (driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor) and Vehicle Code section 12500, subdivision (a) (driving without a valid driver’s license).

Prior to trial, defendant made a “motion to suppress” the results of a gas chromatograph test which had been administered to determine the amount of alcohol in defendant’s system. In connection with a hearing on the motion it was stipulated that the police officer who had administered the test had not been trained in accordance with the provisions of section 1221.4, subdivision (c)(5) and subdivision (d) of title 17, California Administrative Code. The city attorney, however, offered to prove that the testing officer at the time of administering the,test was acting under the direct supervision of an officer who had been so trained and that the test was correctly performed.

The offer of proof was rejected and the trial court ordered the evidence “suppressed.” The city attorney then indicated that in his opinion the case could not go forward without the “suppressed”…