Judge Doug Henderson ruled two years ago that any Intoxilyzer 5000 tests were not admissable evidence in trial. Prosecutors unsucessfully appealed the ruling, and are faced with a decision to trial without the evidence, or reduce the DUI charges.
3 years ago, the Defense attorneys, representing 7 defendants, challenged the machines used in the breathalyzer tests, and wanted the manufacturer to release the Source code for study. That manufacturer is Kentucky based CMI Inc., and they refused to show the source code to the State of Florida, calling it a trade secret.
The Judges presiding over the case determined that the refusal to release the source code of the Intoxilyzer 5000, constituted a violation of due process, and so the evidence was removed from the trial.
CMI faces over $2 Million in fines because of their refusal to release the source code.
From Mark Lipinski, who represents the seven defendants:
““What this really means is that outside corporations cannot sell equipment to the state of Florida and expect to hide the workings of their machine by saying they are trade secret,” he added. “It means the state has to give full disclosure concerning important and critical aspects of the case.”
a minor victory for open-source software.
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May 4th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
[...] story has been developing for a while now. First Florida, where the results of breath tests in more than 100 local drunken-driving [...]