DUI Law Blog : DUI Lawyer & Attorney : Drunk Driving Defense & DWI News : Dan Jaffe

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Here is an update on the DUI Intoxilyzer source code issues being litigated in Tucson, Arizona.

Ariz. court overturns order on breath-testing code - Forbes.com: "An Arizona appellate court skirted a big-picture issue snagging numerous drunken-driving cases as it issued a narrow ruling that overturned a judge's order requiring prosecutors to obtain a breath-testing machine's computer code and provide it to defense attorneys.

A Tucson-based panel of Court of Appeals judges ruled that Judge Deborah Bernini of Pima County Superior Court shouldn't have issued the order because law enforcement officials did not have the 'source code' for the Intoxilyzer 8000 machine and had no way to get it from the out-of-state manufacturer.

The next step in the case will likely be for defense lawyers to ask Bernini to prohibit use of breath-test results from the Intoxilyzer 8000, defense attorney Joseph P. St. Louis said from Tucson.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals' ruling Tuesday leaves a tangle of rulings by Superior Court and municipal judges, some of which prohibit use of the evidence while others that permit it, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Jacob Lines.

'It really depends on which judge you're in front of,' Line said. 'It's sort of been a mess.'

In cases where judges don't allow breath-test results to be used, prosecutors still press many drunken-driving cases by using evidence that includes testimony from police about drivers' performance behind the wheel and in field-sobriety tests, St. Louis said.

The Pima County Attorney's Office drew support in the Court of Appeals case from the Arizona Attorney General's Office and prosecution agencies for jurisdictions that included Phoenix, Tempe, Tucson and Yavapai County.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety has 250 of the Intoxilyzer 8000 machines in use statewide, spokesman Bart Graves said. Municipal police using the machines include departments in Phoenix and Tucson, officials said."

This issue has not gained the kind of traction in the Phoenix area that it has in Tucson.