A Minnesota man accused of drunk driving wins the right to examine the source code of the breath machine that convicted him.

This is a great ruling, and needs to happen more often. Not just for breath machines, but for red light and speed cameras, too.

The companies that make these machines have in the past refused to turn over source code, which in some instances has led to mass acquittals.

You’re supposed to have the right to confront your accuser in this country. If these machines are going to be the only thing standing between an innocent person and the wreckage that comes with a DWI conviction, defendants have every right to examine their margin for error, how they process breath samples, and whether they’re tamper-proof.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 4:37 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.