In Seminole County Florida, many people charged with DUI have found a way out — demanding to see the source code used in the breathalyzer.
Hundreds Of Cases Involving Breath-Alcohol Tests Tossed In Seminole
All four of Seminole County’s criminal judges have been using a standard that if a DUI defendant asks for a key piece of information about how the machine works — its software source code, for instance — and the state cannot provide it, the breath test is rejected, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Wednesday.
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Seminole County judges have been following the lead of County Judge Donald Marblestone, who in January ruled that although the information may be a trade secret and controlled by a private contractor, defendants are entitled to it.
“Florida cannot contract away the statutory rights of its citizens,” the judge wrote.
Judges in other Florida counties have said the opposite: the state cannot turn over something it does not possess, and the manufacturer shouldn’t have to turn over trade secrets.
