 How can you get the source code for the Intoxilyzer 5000?
There were two very important rulings by the Georgia Supreme Court that will affect Georgia DUI cases with breath tests. The defense attorneys in each case wanted access to the source code used by the Intoxilyzer 5000, the Georgia breath machine. A source code is the instruction followed by a computing device in processing information. Basically, drivers were asking that the manufacturer, a company named CMI in Owensboro, KY, to produce the documents containing the source code when they sent a witness to testify in a Georgia court. The lower courts said the defendant (the driver) couldn’t have that information, no matter what.
The defense attorneys appealed the decisions, and the Georgia Supreme Court has basically ruled that since a defendant has a right to cross-examine witnesses against him or her, “[We will] permit a party (the driver) to request that a corporation, rather than its human agent, be found to be a material witness . . . and leave the issue of designation of its human agent to the corporation. Said designation need not occur until after a certificate of materiality has been issued by the Georgia trial court and the court in the county in which the out-of-state corporation is located conducts a hearing which the corporation has been ordered to attend, on the request for issuance of a summons to appear at the Georgia trial with the material evidence purportedly in the corporation’s possession. . . . Should the certificate of materiality be issued by the Georgia court, it is for the Kentucky corporation to identify the human agent through whom it will act, perhaps in conjunction with the hearing that would be held in Kentucky upon receipt of the Georgia certificate of materiality. “
Now, this doesn’t meant that CMI has to cough up the source code. Before that happens, the driver’s attorney must get a Georgia judge to conduct a hearing and issue a certificate of materiality. Then, the attorney has to get a Kentucky court to agree on the certificate of materiality and then to figure out what person has to gather the information and bring it to Georgia.
Once a defense attorney has access to the source code, he or she can use an expert witness to look at the code to determine if it’s calculating blood alcoho content and converting it properly.
Complicated? You bet. This is why you need an experienced DUI defense attorney on your side.
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