Intoxilyzer 8000 Declared Unreliable In Ohio DUI/OVI Case
This blog has discussed Intoxilyzer 8000 litigation in many previous posts. One of those posts (November 18, 2012) mentioned the case of State v. Lancaster in the Marietta Municipal Court. I was asked to help with that litigation as counsel for Lancaster. Like many of the I-8000 cases throughout Ohio, the Lancaster case involves the reliability of the I-8000. Unlike most of the other cases, however, the Lancaster case includes testimony of expert witnesses for the prosecution and defense. After five days of testimony, the verdict is in, and the breath test is out! The decision has already been appealed and is staged to possibly change the interpretation of breath-testing law in Ohio.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 And Ohio DUI/OVI Cases
In 2009, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) purchased about 700 Intoxilyzer 8000s for a cost of approximately $6.5 million. The transaction was facilitated by the head of the ODH Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Testing, Dean Ward. Soon thereafter, Ward began working for the I-8000 manufacturer, C.M.I. Use of the machines began in 2010 and gradually increased.
As law enforcement increasingly used the machines, defense attorneys increasingly challenged their reliability. In State v. Gerome, an Athens County judge heard expert testimony and found the I-8000 is prone to errors. The judge concluded that evidence from the I-8000 is admissible, but defendants may challenge the test results based on circumstances that may make the results inaccurate.
Courts throughout Ohio have ruled that I-8000 test results are not admissible, but most of those rulings have been overturned on appeal. For example, in State v. Reid, a Circleville judge excluded evidence from the I-8000 because the prosecution did not demonstrate that the I-8000 is accurate and reliable. Reid was overturned by the Fourth District Court of Appeals, which reasoned that State v. Vega prohibits a general attack on the reliability of breath testing instruments, including the I-8000.
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