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.