Our Chicago DUI Lawyers have long railed against “Trial By Machine” and the use of the pseudo-science that the Breathalyzer is based on.  (See DUI Supreme Court Case Favorable To Defendants and DUI Cases Get Major Shake-Up for example).  Now a challenge to the Breathalyzer machines used in Palm Beach, Florida may result in 300 cases being thrown out.

DUI challenge leaves 300 cases in doubt
Attorneys dispute breath machines, testing methods

By Brian Haas, Sun Sentinel

Defendants in about 300 Palm Beach County drunken driving cases could go free if they’re successful in challenging the machines used to test their sobriety.

At the center of the challenge, early in 2010, is the Intoxilyzer 8000 machine, which measures blood-alcohol levels. Attorneys claim the machines aren’t legal because Florida’s Intoxilyzers differ slightly from federally approved models. Moreover, they say, there’s evidence law enforcement personnel covered up failed inspections of the devices, calling into question the machines’ accuracy.

The prosecutor and law enforcement officials say the challenge is a futile ploy to get clients off the hook, and crash victims are frustrated at delayed justice. Still, DUI attorneys have lined up by the dozens behind the challenge, due to be heard Feb. 23.

Delayed Justice?  Oh, right.  Why can’t we just throw anyone arrested for DUI right in jail, no trial, no right to counsel.  What’s the big deal anyways?

“If these machines are not working properly and are not maintained properly, they could very well be falsely accusing innocent people,” said Ira Karmelin, a lead attorney in the challenge.

Ah yes.  Falsely accusing people innocent people.  But aren’t these machines tested for accuracy?

A second filing by Karmelin accuses law enforcement officials of covering up failed inspections by unplugging the Intoxilyzers when it looked as if they wouldn’t pass. Such tests are vital in proving the machines give accurate results.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2008 fired a breath-machine analyst after finding she taught law enforcement officers the unplugging trick.

Karmelin said his consultant, re-creating the state’s method for finding the plug-pulling, found a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy pulled the plug on at least eight tests, and a Boynton Beach police officer pulled the plug on three tests.

So the police are rigging tests so that the machines that are inaccurate won’t be discovered.  What do the police have to say about this?

Capt. Patrick Kenny, traffic division commander for the Sheriff’s Office, said three deputies witness every inspection. He said the agency found three pulled plugs, but had a simpler explanation: The printer cable is near the power cord, and installing one sometimes knocks the other out.

Of course.  The old “printer cable” explanation.  Wow.

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys have learned that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is now apparently taking orders from MADD.  Quinn, who initially ordered about 1,000 low-level, nonviolent offenders to be placed on home detention under a new program aiming to save taxpayers $5 million a year reversed his course on 18 inmates in custody for felony drunk driving charges.  Why?  MADD told him too.  Who’s running Illinois anyways?

Early release sends some DUI offenders back to prison -18 sent back to prison to serve out terms

BY FRANK MAIN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters

Anti-drunken driving advocates reacted angrily earlier this week when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Gov. Quinn’s administration had released 18 felony drunken drivers from prison early to serve the rest of their prison time on home confinement.

On Thursday, those same anti-DUI advocates were cheering after the governor ordered all 18 back behind bars to serve the remainder of their prison time. Each will be paroled between mid-January and mid-October under the terms of their original sentences.

“That is a delightful Christmas story,” said David Malham, a victim-services specialist with Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Chicago. “MADD is absolutely delighted that the governor reacted to this serious issue in such a way.”

The Sun-Times revealed Tuesday that the 18 felony DUI drivers and 40 burglars were among 204 inmates released early from prison under a new program aiming to save taxpayers $5 million a year by putting certain “low-level, nonviolent offenders” on home detention. Eventually, 1,000 inmates are supposed to be released early.

Oh, great.  So MADD doesn’t mind that the people that ransack your home or hold you up at gunpoint are released early, as long none of those exemplary citizens do not have a DUI conviction.

MADD officials said repeat DUI offenders should have been considered violent. After reviewing the program, the state Corrections Department agreed.

Why should they be considered violent?  Because MADD says so?  And what exactly did the Department of corrections “review” that made it change it’s mind?  Hmmm.  Could it be that in an election year the Governor is more concerned about losing MADD’s $upport than actually running the State?

The 18 DUI offenders were rounded up during the past two days. No more DUI drivers will be eligible for early release.

“A decision was made to eliminate any and all DUI offenders from the electronic-detention program,” Corrections Department spokeswoman Januari Smith said.

“Any and all DUI offenders”?  Again, where is the logic behind that?  If they are on home monitoring, where are they going to drive to?  Shame on you, Governor Quinn.  What’s next?  An announcement that Illinois is banning all alcohol sales?  Hope the campaign contribution was worth the sell-out.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers have been following the debates regarding Wisconsin’s re-vamped drunk driving laws.  The new Bill passed the other day after much debate.

Wis. lawmakers pass bill toughening drunken driving laws, but some say they should be tougher

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — On the day state lawmakers overwhelmingly passed drunken driving reform that backers called the most significant change in Wisconsin history, Judy Jenkins stayed at home.

Jenkins, whose pregnant daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter were killed by a repeat drunken driver last year, has been a mainstay in the capital pushing for tougher laws. But she couldn’t bring herself to be there to watch the bill pass Wednesday.

“It’s really not substantive,” she said in a phone interview from her Mequon home. “How is it making changes on the road? Is it making our streets safer?”

Lawmakers passed the bill in reaction to public pressure and an outcry over high drunken driving rates and Wisconsin’s weak laws when compared to other states.

But the proposal, which takes effect July 1, doesn’t include two of the toughest changes that advocates wanted: making all first offenses a crime and legalizing roadside sobriety checkpoints.

What?  What’s a good DUI law if you can’t even violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights at a “sobriety checkpoint”?

Under the bill that passed, a first offense would be a misdemeanor if a child under age 16 is in the car. However, Wisconsin would remain the only state in the country where all other first offenses are treated like traffic offenses, not crimes.

Making Wisconsin the only State in the Union who hasn’t bowed to pressure from groups like MADD.  Bravo, Wisconsin.

So you are arrested for DUI and the police get a sample of your blood.  Your blood is drawn by a hospital and analyzed by a State lab.  The result?  You were over the legal limit.  Thousands of people have had the aforementioned evidence admitted by a Judge and used against them by the State to prove them guilty of driving under the influence.  So if judges allow this kind of evidence, and thousands of people have been convicted due to this evidence, it must be accurate. right?

Lake County judge’s DUI results are released, and trial is delayed

Judge David Hall’s defense attorney plans to challenge blood-alcohol results

The night that Lake County Chief Judge David Hall was pulled over by Vernon Hills police, his blood-alcohol level was 0.107, Hall’s attorney said minutes after a judge approved unsealing the record Monday.

The lawyer, Douglas Zeit, said he plans to challenge the blood-alcohol finding and the hospital procedures that led to the result. He also said an unknown law enforcement officer violated Hall’s rights under the federal HIPAA privacy law by instructing hospital staff on how to process the blood sample.

Wow.  Any one else find it interesting that a Judge knows better than to allow the junk science of blood draws to determine BAC  into evidence against him?  Makes you wonder just how accurate this evidence is, doesn’t it?

Our Chicago DUI lawyers found this interesting app for all you iPhone users out there.  And you’ll never guess who’s against it.

DENVER, Colorado — How many drinks are too many to drive? As the saying goes, “there’s an app for that.”

Last month, The Colorado Department of Transportation launched its ‘R-U Buzzed?’ blood-alcohol content calculator for the Apple iPhone.

Here’s how the application works: You enter your weight, how long you’ve been drinking, how much beer wine and liquor, and you get a result. The app will estimate whether you’ve had too much to drive.

Transportation officials think it’s the first of its kind. “As far as we know, we’re the first department of transportation to launch something like this,” CDOT spokesperson Stacy Stegman said. And it’s just in time for the holidays. “People are going to drink a little bit. We just don’t want them to make a bad decision,” Stegman said.

Bravo to CDOT for investing in something that may prevent potential drunk driving incidents.  Groups like MADD must think that this is great, right?

“Intentions are great, but the only cure all for drinking and driving, is to have a designated driver or don’t drink and drive period, says Holly Klein of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

M.A.D.D. also warns that the app doesn’t take into account different metabolisms, or serving sizes on drinks. They fear it may give users bad information.

“doesn’t take into account different metabolisms, or serving sizes”?  Oh, right.  Funny that  MADD doesn’t seem to mind that Breathalyzers, the machines that puts thousands of people in jail each year, don’t take into account different metabolisms, or serving sizes either.  In fact, it is proven that the Breathalyzer machine is discriminatory to woman.  When defense attorneys challenged the machines because of that fact, the law was changed to ensure that DUI defense Attorneys couldn’t use that defense!  Thanks for looking out for us, MADD.