To Reveal the Code or Not - That is the Question
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 1:11 am
The ruling of the Superior Court to give Arizona DUI lawyers complete access to the breath-testing equipment software was overturned by the Court of Appeals. The panel said that no evidence was found to support lower court judge’s claim that prosecutors have better access to it than defense attorneys.
The software code called Intoxilyzer 8000 was placed under repeated attack from defense lawyers handling DUI cases. They say that this code will enable them to verify the reliability and accuracy of the equipment independently. They argued that they have the right legally and constitutionally to challenge their accusers.
According to Intoxilyer 8000 manufacturer, their code is considered a trade secret. But reports say that this equipment was banned in Tennessee after it failed to meet the testing for accuracy. In fact, court battles have already sparked in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Florida and Minnesota. Issues that always come up include unauthorized changes to software and equipment approved by the state as well as code access.
Back in Arizona Court ruling, they clarified that prosecutors don’t really have an advantage over criminal defense DUI attorneys. However, there’s still an issue on the “substantial need” for code access, and the state prosecutors have already predicted that any decision of the Superior Court judge will ultimately be brought to the Court of Appeals.
Tags: Court of Appeals, criminal defense attorneys, dui, dui lawyers, Intoxilyer 8000, Superior Court