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Elizabeth Stawicki
St. Paul, Minn.

Court allows challenge to breathalyzer's reliability

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The state Supreme Court says people charged with drunk driving have a right to a breathalyzer's source code, but only if they can prove it will aid their defense.

The ruling stems from the DWI charge against Timothy Brunner who wanted the source code to challenge the validity of his blood alcohol test.

Brunner provided evidence that analyzing the source code could reveal the Intoxilyzer's reliability and whether he was guilty of the charges.

The same court, however, ruled against another man who also sought the device's source code. The court said Dale Underdahl failed to show exactly how the source code could be related to his defense or why the code was likely to contain information related to his case.

Justices Alan Page and Paul Anderson dissented on Underdahl's case. They said a defendant has wide latitude in requesting such information and that district court judges also have broad discretion to grant such requests.