So can it get worse for Laura Barfield, the director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s (FDLE) Alcohol testing program? Watch the video below to hear Laura Barfield testify about problems with the Intoxilyzer 8000′s flow sensor. In the middle of her testimony she asks to retract the last 5 minutes of her testimony because she becomes confused.
Florida DUI Attorneys and their experts have been questioning the top officials with FDLE’s alcohol testing program about problems with the Intoxilyzer 8000, the breathalyzer used throughout Florida after a DUI arrest. Leading the way is Sarasota County DUI Attorney, Robert Harrison.
What’s the problem? When you blow into the machine you must blow 1.1 liters of air in one continuous breath before the machine will determine that a sufficient example exists and provide an estimate of the subjects breath alcohol content (called BrAC). You can look at the data and clearly see that the Intoxilyzer 8000 is reporting the individual blew 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or even 9 liters of air (one even reported 16 liters of air) in one continuous breath. Basic science tells us that anything over 4 liters of air is highly unlikely. Anything with 6 liters or more is completely impossible. So the flow sensor on the Intoxilyzer 8000 instrument that calculates or estimates volume is WRONG. The instrument is not calibrated correctly because it is over stating volume.
But what about those cases in which the instrument is under stating volume? In other words, the person blew more than the required 1.1 liters of air but the Intoxilyzer 8000 reported an insufficient sample? FDLE describes it as the instrument “being really hard to blow into.” For those individuals, they will be counted as having refused to provide a sufficient sample even though they really did blow a sufficient sample. We call these cases the “machine refusal” because the refusal results from the error message reported by the instrument. The breath test operator will say the person was “faking” or “pretending to blow when really they were faking it.” Many of those people were falsely charged with DUI refusal, had a 1 year suspension of their driver’s license and may have been convicted of DUI because of a problem with the instrument. Innocent people were necessarily falsely accused.
When confronted with the implications of her testimony, Laura Barfield, retracts her previous statement. The judge says so for the last five minutes you get a “never mind”? How can the Intoxilyzer 8000 “instrument” be trusted at all if the volume of air is incorrect? If the flow is incorrectly calibrated when no reading can be trusted because we will never know whether the instrument really analyzed a sufficient sample or an insufficient sample. If we can’t trust the “volume” reading, why should we believe the other readings like the BrAC (or Breath Alcohol Concentration) result?
I’m glad Stephen Daniels with DUI undo Consultants, LLC, shared this video with me. The graphics combined with the audio are terrific.
Read more about the Intoxilyzer 8000 Flow Sensor Problems in Florida.
