Florida Breath Test Machine Codes Case
According to the Tampa Tribune, judges in the central Florida county
of Seminole are dismissing DUI charges when the defendant asks for
information on how the breath test works.
Apparently the manufacture of the device is unwilling to release the
code to the state, and all four judges in the county have been dismissing
DUI cases when the state cannot provide the requested information.
A Florida court this Friday will hear arguments in a case where the
accuracy of a breathalyzer is being scrutinized because the manufacturer
refuses to release the source code.
A state court ruling last year said that accused drunk drivers are
entitled to receive details about the inner workings of the “mystical
machine” that determined their guilt, and defense attorneys are now using
that ruling to open up the device’s source code. Is this part of a larger
trend?
