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Minnesota Appeals Court Rules State Must Provide Source Codes for DUI Breath Machine

In an Opinion issued July 26, 2007, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the Trial Court's decision requiring the State to reveal Intoxilyzer 5000 source codes in a DUI prosecution. The Intoxilyzer 5000 EN is the machine currently used for breath testing for DUI's in Minnesota. The "source code" is basically the software program used by the breath machine to extrapolate a small breath sample to an overall blood alcohol content for the entire body. Virginia uses the Intoxilyzer 5000 SN 68, the predecessor to the "new and improved" 5000 EN. At issue in Minnesota was whether the State was responsible for providing the defendant's discovery request for the source code or whether the machine's manufacturer was an independent entity. Since Minnesota statutes state that any product purchased by the state becomes property of the state, the Supreme Court ruled that it was not error for the trial court to rule that the state must provide the source codes. Read the opinion here- Minnesota ruling requires state to provide Intoxilyzer Source Codes