In the case of State v. Chung, the New Jersey Supreme Court concluded that the Alcotest was a reliable device for purposes of assessing the blood alcohol concentration of a drunk driving suspect.  In that decision, the court defined the procedure that should be used for purposes of administrating the test. One component of that procedure required a twenty-minute waiting-period, in which the Alcotest operator was required to observe the suspect. The purpose of the twenty-minute observation period is to make sure that the suspect did not regurgitate or place anything in his/her mouth that would effect the machine’s reliability.

Recently, the Appellate Division determined that the Alcotest operator was not the only person who could satisfy the twenty-minute observation period, even though the plain language of the Chung opinion required that conclusion.   The Appellate Division determined that this simple task could be accomplished by someone other than the administrator of the test.