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Beating the Breath Test

Aggressive Trial Attorney With a Reputation for Success
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It seems that lately I've been getting a lot of phone calls from people charged with DUI. Since Miami-Dade and Broward are so broke, it makes sense that cops are out there, trying to make those lucrative DUI arrests. Think about it - with the fines, impound fees, probation costs, and cost recovery (yes, you can be made to reimburse the police for their investigation time) DUIs are big business.
It's common when you are arrested for DUI to want to submit to a breath test. Whole you have a right to refuse the breath test, many people chose to blow into the breathalyzer, hoping for something less than a .08. Many times, breath samples come back much higher than expected. You might think, "there was no way I was a .15. I had two drinks."
In Miami and Broward, police agencies use a machine called the Intoxilyzer 8000. It sounds like a character from a bad 80's robot movie, but no...it's the piece of machinery used to calculate (or at least attempt to calculate) one's apparent blood-alcohol level. Many people dispair after blowing high numbers, thinking that their DUI is unbeatable. They couldn't be more wrong.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 is a machine. Much like your toaster oven. Like your television. Like the computer you're using right now. It doesn't have a pulse. It doesn't have a conscience. It doesn't have a brain. It runs on outdated computer software, the same stuff used in those blocky Commodore desktops that were popular around 1979. I'm not kidding. And in recent years, the Intoxilyzer 8000 has become a source of controversy. By law, each Intoxilyzer machine must be tested and maintained on a regular basis by qualified FDLE inspectors. These inspections are to make sure that the machines are running properly, and most importantly, testing accurately. In 2008, it became apparent that Sandra Viega, an FDLE inspector responsible for a large number of Intoxilyzer machines in Miami and Broward, was manipulating the results of these inspections. If a machine was shown to malfunction, Ms. Viega allegedly would turn the machine off, which in turn would fail to report a malfunction of the machine. As a result, countless DUI cases have been thrown out. For more information on this troubling story, click here: http://www.prlog.org/10145745-growing-concerns-over-south-florida-fdle-department-inspector-sandra-veiga.html.
I handle DUI cases in both Broward and Miami-Dade. As a DUI attorney, I am not only aware of the issues prevalent in the Intoxilyzer 8000, but I am aware of the legal protocol that agencies must follow in maintaining and inspecting these machines. Don't dispair! If you or someone you know has blown into that machine and the results were unfavorable, don't give up and plead guilty! That's what the cops and the prosecutors want you to do! Don't give up your presumption of innocence and constitutional right to fight your DUI without first consulting a Miami-Dade County DUI attorney who is familiar with breath test cases. If you plead guilty, you will get a MANDATORY conviction and a license suspension, not to mention pricey fines, costs, and community service hours that will eat up your free time.
Call me today if you or someone you know has a DUI involving a breath test.
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