As we touched on in the last blog post and reported on back in a March in a blog post entitled “Judge rules on limitations of Intoxilyzer 5000 after challenge from Minneapolis DWI Attorneys” the high court of the state granted the motion by a coalition of Minnesota defense attorneys requesting each DWI case in the state of Minnesota remain on hold until the appeal regarding the Intoxilyzer 5000EN is complete.

The Intoxilyzer is used by police officers to determine the level of blood alcohol content of a driver believed to be driving while impaired. It uses sound-infrared spectroscopy in measuring the absorption of light of molecules in the air breathed out by a driver.

However, since the result of intoxilyzer is determined by a computer source code inside the intoxilyzer, many DWI attorneys believed that it creates discrepancies.

The motion puts over 4,000 cases of implied consent and DWI on hold while awaiting the issuance of final order by the Supreme Court of Minnesota on whether the results of the intoxilyzer tests are considered reliable.

The District Judge of Scott County, ruled in March that even though the controversial computer source code of the device can contain errors, these errors are not sufficient to affect the results’ accuracy. This ruling was created after Minneapolis DWI attorneys challenged the accuracy of intoxilyzer 5000.

The order of the District Judge consisting of 122 pages followed a legal battle of five years both in the state and the federal courts which involved attorneys of the 4,000 accused drunk drivers in Minnesota’s 69 counties. The order stops prosecutors and judges at the moment from pursuing the cases.

The DWI cases returned to their respective home districts after the ruling. Defense lawyers made their appeal to which the Supreme Court agreed for case hearing. There is no schedule on oral arguments before the Supreme Court yet.

The order states that the consolidation of these 4,000 cases before a single judge is for prevention of similar court battles as well as for inconsistency of ruling, and for preservation of resources. Chief Justice Lorie Gildea believes that putting the cases on hold serves the same purpose.  Most Minnesota criminal lawyers are pleased with the ruling and consider that the order would cause DWI cases to inefficiently bounce through the system and drive up the cost of defense for their clients.

A total of 264 units of Intoxilyzer are phased out by the state to make way for Datamaster DMT machine. The new breath-testing device is due for release the next few months following the completion of training and testing at the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Stay tuned for a future blog post where we’ll take a more detailed look at the Datamaster DMT breath testing machine.

Regardless of what breath testing device is used to measure your blood alcohol level, a DWI charge must always be taken seriously. If you happen to be charged with DWI in Minnesota, you should immediately contact an experienced and well-trained Minneapolis DWI Lawyer to defend your DWI case. Douglas T. Kans, a respected Minnesota Criminal Lawyer, is always ready to provide you with comprehensive legal services for the best possible resolution of your DWI/DUI case. You may contact Kans Law Firm, LLC at (952) 835-6314 for a free case review.