URINE TESTS BARRED IN DUI CASES

Court: Florida Lacks An Approved Method.

TAMPA - An appellate court opinion issued Wednesday in a Hillsborough
County case could mean trouble for prosecutors in a small number of
drunken-driving cases.

The affected cases involve people charged with driving under the influence
who did not have an illegal amount of alcohol in their blood but whose
urine tests showed they were under the influence of drugs.

The opinion from the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland said that
because the state has no approved method for conducting urine tests,
results can't be used in DUI cases.

Jim Shoemaker, chief of DUI prosecution for the Hillsborough County State
Attorney's Office, said Thursday that the opinion will affect a "small
percentage" of the county's DUI cases.

He did not know exactly how many.

"I don't think it will impact us to a major degree," Shoemaker said. "Most
of our cases are based on breath tests."

The opinion does not affect cases using breath or blood tests.

The opinion is not final.

The state attorney general has 15 days to ask the appeals court to
reconsider the opinion.

It can also be appealed to the state Supreme Court, Shoemaker said.

"It's still very early," Shoemaker said.

The case stemmed from a traffic stop Aug. 7, 2000, of Anthony Bodden.

Breath tests showed he was not impaired by alcohol, and he was asked to
take a urine test, which came up positive for marijuana.

Bodden was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, as
well as DUI.

The state has to follow technical, statutory procedures to develop a urine
test for the evidence to be used in a DUI case, the opinion states.

Shoemaker said the tests are usually given when an officer believes a
driver is impaired but breath tests do not show a blood-alcohol level of
0.08 percent, the level at which a person is presumed to be intoxicated
under Florida law. Breath tests do not reveal the presence of drugs.

Because the opinion is not final, Shoemaker said the state attorney's
office will continue taking urine samples in such cases.