Sarasota County, FL
Judges realize that the crux of the argument in favor of the Intoxilyzer is “just trust us” and they aren’t buying it anymore.
Two Sarasota county judges have struck another blow to the breath-test machines police use to catch drunken drivers, throwing out the results in 72 more DUI cases.Like other legal battles over the Intoxilyzer 8000, the latest one centers on technical aspects of how the machine works.
Defense attorneys questioned exactly how the machines use an infrared spectrum to detect alcohol in a driver’s breath. When prosecutors could not answer detailed questions about the machines, the judges threw the test results out. Now the DUI cases are stalled while prosecutors appeal the ruling.
The cases join about 450 DUI cases in Sarasota and Manatee counties that already have been delayed for up to four years because defense attorneys questioned the reliability of the machines, and judges have ruled that the defendants should have access to the computer code inside the Intoxilyzer.
Judges threw out breath-test results in those cases when the manufacturer refused to turn over the computer code to defense attorneys. Prosecutors appealed and lost, and the cases are now set to proceed to trial.
The rulings have not stopped law enforcement from using the Intoxilyzer 8000 to test suspected drunken drivers. The breath-test results are a key piece of evidence in DUI cases, but even in cases where the tests results are thrown out, prosecutors can still try to prove the case using testimony from law enforcement officers who administer field sobriety tests.
Defense attorneys across the state have made similar arguments, but the rulings last week are the first throwing out breath-test results based on the infrared spectrum.
In this latest challenge, prosecutors could not convince judges that the Intoxilyzer 8000 measures alcohol in the breath at exactly the same wavelength in the infrared spectrum that the manufacturer says it does.
Without that, prosecutors cannot prove the machine is the same one approved for use in Florida, the judges ruled. And state law only requires drivers to submit to breath tests using an approved machine.
“These are the rules they need to follow to make sure they have a reliable machine,” said Venice defense attorney Robert Harrison, who has led the fight against the Intoxilyzer 8000s. “They can’t just pick any machine.”
County judges David Denkin and Kimberly Bonner issued the ruling on these 72 cases, but two other judges heard the same arguments and could rule similarly on another 27 cases, Harrison said.