Attorney General Obstructs Independent Breath Test Examination

Posted On October 09, 2008 by Charles Ramsay

The AG-CMI Settlement Does Not Help, But Hinders Drivers' Ability to Inspect the Intoxilyzer Source Code.

The Minnesota Attorney General (AG) last month reached a source code agreement with CMI , the Intoxilyzer 5000 manufacturer, which purportedly requires the Kentucky company to produce the machine's source code. The AG filed suit in federal court in March to force CMI to turn over the source code to the state and Minnesota drivers accused of DWI. In a September 12 press release, Public Safety Commission Michael Campion claimed victory over CMI. "By settling this lawsuit, we accomplish our goal of gaining access to the source code...," said Campion in a press release. The settlement must be approved by a federal court judge.

CMI is not required to produce THE source code. Instead it will produce a document derived from the source code but is stripped of essential compenents, precluding meaningful examination. The agreement also makes any examination cost prohibive.

Minnesota Judges will likely defer to the federal court judge. Should Judge Frank approve the settlement, drivers will be limited to the AG's agreement with CMI and will be denied any meaningful review of the source code. MORE>>>

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