In the Kingdom of Nod, a villager’s fate hangs in the balance as wise men huddle around oracle will decide his fate. The penalties exacted may be severe: freedom or servitude; the forfeiture of his worldly possessions; the payment of punitive tariffs; or a prohibition against travel. But the Oracle is all seeing and all knowing, able neatly discern guilt or innocence from only a puff of the villager’s breath. Its’ belie its unremarkable visage. Dark, square and mysterious, its inner workings were unknown to all except the wizard that presented it to the Kingdom. Wizard Seeim Eye promised that the oracle used powerful magic all of the world. It was, based on those pronouncements, that the King decreed the oracle pronunciations absolute.
Given a cue, the villager puffs upon the oracle. Lights dance across its façade and its magic is clear to see. Within moments, its mysterious evaluation has concluded and its decision presented on to the wise men at its periphery. “Guilty.” No further questions need be asked as the escorted from the room to await his sentencing.
The legal system in the Kingdom of Nod sounds doesn’t it? While it may seem like a fanciful story, the paragraph above describes precisely how legal system works in it treatment of DWI/DUI cases. The cases often hinge on our own modern day “oracle”, the Intoxilyzer 5000. The Intoxilyzer 5000 is manufactured by its own wizard, a company called Its makers promise that the machine is, in fact, accurate. It is based on that assessment that States enacted legislation or had defining case law determine that the results of the intoxilyzer 5000 must be presumed accurate. This essentially shifts the burden of proof in a DWI/DUI case from the state to the driver the Intoxilyzer 5000 is in error. It is for that reason that many states having ongoing related to the source code of the Intoxilyzer 5000.
Before the source code, can be discussed, a simplistic explanation of our “oracle” - the Intoxilyzer 5000 - is necessary. The Intoxilyzer 5000 is a machine with a complex set of functions. It is a computerized system that has a tube attached on one end for receiving breath samples, and a printer attached to the other end to record results. A driver tube, the sample swirls around inside a chamber in the box, and the printer then displays results. Presumably what occurs is that the machine accepts a sample of air from a user and chambers that air. It then beams infrared light through the holding chambers where sensors on the other side determine how much absorption of certain waves of infrared light has occurred. Based on that data, made to determine the amount of alcohol contained in the sample to absorb that amount of calculations are done to determine the amount of alcohol in the underlying tissues in the lungs the determination of the amount of alcohol in the alveolar air.
The “source code", a computer program, is a coded set of instructions that control every mechanical function of the intoxilyzer 5000. That is true whether it is an the machine on, make the fan operate, or to make analytical analysis such as the rate alcohol absorbs infrared light and the mathematical formula comparing alcohol content in alveolar (“deep lung”) air blood alcohol content in the tissues below. As a result, in order to understand the inner Intoxilyzer 5000, it is necessary to have a copy of the source code and to have it independently tested for accuracy.
As a direct result, in many states, Minnesota included, defense attorneys have filed Motions seeking disclosure of the source code for the Intoxilyzer 5000. The state does not have access to code and, when it is requested from the manufacturer, CMI, they are told it is a and that it will not be provided. In other words, nobody actually knows what goes on inside this machine except those who have viewed (or written) the source code. Yet, under law, everyone in the legal system that the result is accurate and, to a great degree, indisputable. In other words, the response by CMI is the equivalent of saying – “trust us, it works.