Bradenton, Florida -- A Manatee County woman has been arrested 11 times for drunk driving. But in her most recent arrest, state attorneys decided to drop the charges, fearing it could harm other cases.
That arrest came in August of 2008 for Janet Landrum. After she was pulled over and taken into custody, she was transported to jail.
It was there she was given a breathalyzer test used by the state, called the Intoxilyzer 8000. Landrum would blow a .119, which is well over the legal .08 limit.
While the state attorney's office wanted to get another conviction of the habitual drinker, it ultimately dropped the charges against her.
According to DUI consultant and expert witness Stephan Daniels, the charges were dropped because there was concern the results of the breathalyzer test in Landrum's case could have a bad effect on other cases it is prosecuting.
Daniels says he discovered there is a fatal flaw in the Intoxilyzer 8000: the machine sometimes would take two breath samples, but only report one result. Daniels also discovered the machine often reported blood alcohol levels without any breath volume.
When the manufacturer wouldn't let Landrum's defense team inspect how the machine operates, the judge refused to allow the results be admitted as evidence. The DUI charges against Landrum were subsequently dropped.
"The state is starting to realize if this information gets out, it could have ramifications statewide," Daniels says.
The State Attorney's office says another reason it dropped the DUI charges is because Landrum was still convicted of driving without a license and is now serving a four-year prison sentence. She lost the privilege to drive in Florida after several of her DUI arrests.
At least two judges in the Sarasota and Manatee Court district have refused to accept breath results from the Intoxilyzer 8000 and that could affect hundreds of cases. However, other judges in the district do accept the results from the machine.
In all likelihood, an appeals court or even the Florida Supreme Court will make the final decision on the machine's use.