In Texas Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) cases , a machine called the Intoxilyzer 5000 is the device used by police to take a sample of your breath to measure alcohol concentration. The Intoxilyzer 5000 is one in a series of breath testing devices manufactured by the CMI corporation of Kentucky.
The device employs a software program to measure the alcohol concentration and the manufacturer has steadfastly resisted efforts to disclose the Intoxilyzer's source code. Perhaps that resistance is slowly being overcome. In a series of cases Judges in Arizona, Minnesota, Kentucky and Florida have ordered that CMI turn over its source code to attorneys representing clients in Driving While Intoxicated cases. CMI claims that the source code material is proprietary.
Essentially, everyday in this country people are convicted on the basis of the results of a machine whose software has never been subject to analysis, independent scrutiny, or even view by those who will suffer because of its results.
It is a constitutional right in this country to confront one's accuser in court as well as to know the evidence against one. Perhaps the time is right for Texas DWI defense lawyers to seek to compel disclosure of the source code for the Intoxilyzer 5000.
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