JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville defense attorney is challenging a statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office about repairs made to Intoxilyzer 8000 breath-test machines.<\/p>\n
The dispute follows a ruling by a three-judge panel that found unauthorized repairs were made to the machines, which are used to measure the amount of alcohol in a person\u2019s breath.<\/p>\n
JSO told News4JAX that the agency \u201cdoesn\u2019t make any repairs to the instruments.\u201d JSO stands by its original statement.<\/p>\n
But defense attorney David Robbins said the statement conflicts with testimony cited in the court\u2019s order.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, it is the opposite,\u201d Robbins said. \u201cNo disrespect to JSO, but as you can see by reading the order, they clearly were doing the repairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court order states that an agency inspector at JSO testified that O-rings were replaced at the sheriff\u2019s office \u201con numerous occasions\u201d after they were found broken, damaged or in need of repair.<\/p>\n
The order also states that the inspector testified he changed O-rings only when they were \u201cin disrepair.\u201d The inspector said he kept no records showing when the replacements occurred or which machines were repaired.<\/p>\n
The panel rejected the state\u2019s characterization of the work as routine maintenance, according to the ruling.<\/p>\n
The issue could affect breath-test results used in DUI cases across Florida. Robbins said attorneys from several counties are already preparing potential legal challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn two weeks, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers does a big seminar in Orlando, and already it\u2019s a big topic,\u201d Robbins said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard from lawyers in the Panhandle, Broward, Brevard, Orlando, Osceola, you name it, counties all over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robbins said the issue is statewide because he believes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not follow the rules it established for maintaining and repairing the breath-test machines.<\/p>\n
The state attorney\u2019s office told News4JAX it will take the necessary steps to demonstrate the scientific reliability of the breath-test results so they can be admitted in court while the issue is resolved.<\/p>\n
Robbins said O-rings are critical because they help create a tight seal around the breath sample.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s not a tight seal by the O-ring, the machine doesn\u2019t know that it\u2019s not getting the correct sample of air,\u201d Robbins said. \u201cThere was testimony that, yes, it could give a false-positive result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robbins said he does not advocate drinking and driving. He said his goal is to ensure that no one is wrongfully convicted based on unreliable evidence<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville defense attorney is challenging a statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office about repairs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,1872,8782],"class_list":["post-390781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso","tag-state-attorneys-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}