People v. Chubbs
Court of Appeal of California
2015 WL 139069 (2015)
Relevant factsFree
Chubbs (defendant) was linked to a 1977 murder through a 2011 DNA match generated by proprietary software, and sought to compel discovery of the program's source code, arguing it was essential since the DNA evidence was the only evidence against him; the software developer opposed disclosure as a trade secret that would cause financial harm if revealed, and testified the source code was not needed to assess the program's reliability. The trial court ordered disclosure subject to a protective order, and the government appealed on the developer's behalf.
IssueFree
Whether a defendant is entitled, as a matter of course, to the source code of a DNA-matching program used to identify him.
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