Accused murderer wins right to check source code of DNA testing kit

Link to the ruling: https://www.eff.org/files/2021/02/03/decision_appdiv_232021....

Makes perfect sense. You have the right to cross-examine the witness, especially when you're being accused of murder.

Now if this can become precedent for all evidence derived from automated systems. There have been some past battles about BAC machines in this regard.

and surprisingly all of the code is of equal importance so you really need to review each line sequentially! Instead of finding stuff that you think is most likely to relate to what you're trying to figure out and debug from there. Wow I would like to see this marvel of engineering myself!

It's an important development. Forensic labs and companies are expert witnesses with black box processes and the incentive to protect the authority of their profession. They are as likely to lie as any other witness. Perhaps even moreso.

"Those arguing on behalf of the defense cited past problems with other genetic testing software such as STRmix and FST (Forensic Statistical Tool). Defense expert witnesses Mats Heimdahl and Jeanna Matthews, for example, said that STRmix had 13 coding errors that affected 60 criminal cases, errors not revealed until a source code review." "They also pointed out, as the appeals court ruling describes, how an FST source code review "uncovered that a 'secret function . . . was present in the software, tending to overestimate the likelihood of guilt.'"

An analogous situation with an alcohol and drug testing lab caused a scandal in Canada and called into question 16,000 child protective services cases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherisk , and then at the same hospital(!), a forensic pathologist was giving fake prosecution evidence, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Smith_(pathologist)

Maybe there's just something about Toronto and compromised processes, but defense challenges to the integrity of automated systems looks like a growth field.