Thursday, March 08, 2007

"I SAID WE DON'T HAVE IT!"

While I don't think Laura Barfield (director of the Implied Consent Program for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or "FDLE") actually said that or anything similar to it in that tone, she has consistently denied in the two plus years Florida criminal defense attorneys have been attempting to get the source code for the Intoxilyzers (which were manufactured by CMI, Inc of Waynesboro, Kentucky) that the FDLE does not have access to it. The position she has taken along with the FDLE is that the source code is a trade secret and it belongs exclusively to CMI.

Florida courts have mostly ignored the repeated arguments by Florida criminal defense attorneys that the FDLE should not be rewarded for negligently contracting away their ability to maintain control over and possession of the source code. State Attorney Offices all over the State seem to scoff at the notion the FDLE could contract to maintain possession of and control over the source code for the Intoxilyzers.

Well, bless my stars and garters! The Florida Department of Corrections negotiated with the manufacturer of the new GPS ankle monitors they are using to own the rights to all of the source code written for the use of the devices.