Judge Agrees to Set Hearing on DWI Test Device - Issue is reliability of the Intoxilyzer

Posted On November 05, 2009 by Charles Ramsay

As reported in the Pioneer Press yesterday, November 4th, 2009, Minnesota's First Judicial District held a hearing, conducted by the Honorable Judge Abrams, to set an agenda to discuss factors in the on-going Source Code dispute. This hearing was to address how to proceed in the Source Code Evidentiary hearings for Implied Consent and Criminal matters. I first reported of this hearing on my blog â?? Mass Source Code Scheduling Conference for Implied Consent and Criminal matters set by the First Judicial District Court of Minnesota.

At the heart of the matter is the reliability of the Intoxilyzer 5000 and whether or not this machine accurately measures a person's alcohol concentration under Minnesota's DWI laws. This is the machine used state wide. I have addressed the flaws of the Intoxilyzer 5000 in past blog entries.

At yesterday's mass hearing, coalition attorneys told Judge Abrams that they had hired Computer Forensics Services to review the source code as allowed under the federal court settlement. This would take approximately 2-3 months and will be done at CMI headquarters in Kentucky.

Judge Abrams decided he would schedule one mass hearing for next spring, to determine whether the breath test machine is reliable after the findings of the source code review. The hearing which includes 286 civil cases and 238 criminal cases (and growing) throughout the First Judicial District is expected to last anywhere from one to three weeks.

Other District Courts may join the First Judicial Districts in this hearing or conduct mass hearings of their own on the reliability and accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 5000.

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