Comments for blog of the minnesota society for criminal justice http://mncrimlawblog.mscj.org Leading the Way . . . | http://mncrimlaw.mscj.org Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:15:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ Comment on Minnesota Intoxilyzer Source Code Developments Discussed August 8, 2009 by Thomas Gallagher http://mncrimlawblog.mscj.org/2009/08/08/minnesota-intoxilyzer-source-code-developments-discussed-august-8-2009/#comment-253 Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:15:24 +0000 http://mncrimlawblog.wordpress.com/?p=8#comment-253 The “Preliminary (or Portable) Breath Test” machine can be off by as much as 50% even when “working properly.” That may be one reason the Minnesota legislature has made it inadmissible in a criminal DWI trial. How would you like to be on trial with evidence of alcohol concentration double what it really was? And if the machine was not “working properly,” it’s even more inaccurate.

Why did the the manufacturer of the Intoxilyzer spend so much time and money stonewalling, hiding the truth? Numerous flaws were uncovered as a result of the mscj source code coalition’s effort. The citizens of Minnesota will benefit. The system has been improved. The real problem? An unfair system that targets the innocent and the guilty alike.,

]]> Comment on Minnesota Intoxilyzer Source Code Developments Discussed August 8, 2009 by Ron Hemsworth http://mncrimlawblog.mscj.org/2009/08/08/minnesota-intoxilyzer-source-code-developments-discussed-august-8-2009/#comment-22 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:26:03 +0000 http://mncrimlawblog.wordpress.com/?p=8#comment-22 Why not let the PBT that an officer takes be admissible in evidence to confirm the Intoxilyzer test? It seems that your group is not interested in making sure the Intoxilyzer 5000 works right but only wanting to discredit it to win DWI cases. I hope you sleep well with the following stats of the MN Dept. of Public Safety! Is the problem with the Intoxilyzer or with drinking and irresponsibility on the part of offenders and greedy lawyers?

• In 2008, there were 3,938,401 licensed drivers in MN
• There were 35,794 impaired driving incidents in 2008
• 40% of violators were repeats
• 523,891 drivers have a DWI on their record in MN
• 1 in 8 (12.5%) MN drivers have 1 or more DWIs on their record
• 1 in 18 (5.6%) have 2 or more
• 1 in 38 (2.6%) have 3 or more
• In addition to this, 92,810 non-residents have incurred 1 or more incidents in MN
• Of the 147,076 Stearns Co residents, 14,169 have a DWI
• There were 1,067 DWI arrests (961 were convicted) made in Stearns Co in 2008
• Of the 455 traffic fatalities in MN in 2008, 163 were alcohol related

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