DUI Attorney Brian Gabriel Fights Intoxilyzer 8000

THE “HOLE” TRUTH The Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument is the breath testing machine utilized throughout the State of Florida. The government has long argued that the Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument is properly “approved” for use in the State of Florida as an evidentiary breath testing device. However, recently, due to unapproved modifications, it has come to light that the Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument is not properly approved in the State of Florida. In 2002, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement evaluated the Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument for evidentiary breath testing in the State of Florida. According to all of their tests, the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath testing instrument was properly “approved”. Soon thereafter, the State of Florida contracted with the manufacturer of the Intoxilyzer 8000 and began ordering hundreds of breath testing devices for all of the counties in Florida. As the Intoxilyzer 8000 instruments were being customized for use in the State of Florida, several Florida Department of Law Enforcement inspectors were sent to the manufacturer’s plant in Kentucky where they all worked together to conform the Intoxilyzer 8000′s software to meet Florida’s legal specifications.

At that time, all of a sudden Intoxilyzer 8000 instruments did not work properly. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Inspectors tried and tried to determine and fix the problem, but to no avail. Eventually, the engineers of the manufacturer and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement inspectors made the determination that the only way to get the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath testing instrument to work properly would be to drill a hole in the purge valve regulating the air flow system of this breath testing machine. It has not been disputed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that all of the Intoxilyzer 8000 instruments utilized in Florida have this hole drilled in the exhaust purge valve.

Furthermore, it is not disputed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that a proper, legal evaluation study was never conducted regarding the drilling of the hole in the air system of the Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument. It is interesting to note that on two other occasions in the past, the government has attempted to fix breath testing instruments by picking up a drill and drilling holes in certain component parts. In both of those instances, the higher appellate courts in Florida clearly found that that alteration was a significant alteration of the machine and, therefore, invalidated its “approval” requiring a recertification or “reapproval” of the instrument. Stay tuned for the Court’s ruling on the determination of the truth, the “hole” truth, and nothing but the truth.