East Lansing, MI- Judge rules blood- alcohol tests are unreliable.

East Lansing, MI- Blood tests in drunken-driving cases statewide will face more scrutiny, experts say, after a Mason County judge ruled that the state crime lab's test results "are not reliable."

In a ruling signed Friday, 79th District Court Judge Peter Wadel refused to admit blood-alcohol results in a drunken-driving case. He said the crime lab - which conducts blood and other forensic tests in cases from around the state - does not report an error rate, or margin of error, along with blood-alcohol results.

"This court ... finds that the blood test results are not reliable until the state police crime lab calculates an uncertainty budget or error rate and reports that calculation along with the blood test results. This court specifically finds that calculation of an uncertainty budget or error rate and the reporting of the same is an essential element of the scientific methodology for analyzing blood alcohol content."

East Lansing attorney Mike Nichols, who is handling the case in Mason County which includes the city of Ludington along Lake Michigan - said there are no absolutes in science.

"Everyone says a blood test is so accurate. Well, it's not," Nichols said. "That's what this judge has ruled."

Not including a range of possible results, Nichols said, ignores the uncertainties in the collection, handling, analysis and reporting process.

A blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent is the threshold in Michigan for being charged with drunken driving. But Nichols said when someone's blood-alcohol is determined to be 0.10, for example, it could actually be higher -or lower - than 0.08.

Washington-based attorney Ted Vosk said Washington and Michigan are the only two states in which judges have made rulings challenging blood-alcohol tests.

Any defense attorney wanting to challenge blood-alcohol test results now can point to the ruling.

"It certainly gives defense attorneys a lot of ammunition," Bretz said.

'A really big step'

If the case goes to the Court of Appeals, and possibly the state Supreme Court, and they uphold Wadel's ruling, then it would become statewide precedent and other judges would have to follow it.

"This is just a step on the road - but a really big step," Bretz said.

Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola said in an email Tuesday his office will appeal the ruling in circuit court, where district court appeals are first heard.


Link:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110511/NEWS01/105110326/DUI-blood-tests-could-face-scrutiny-after-judge-s-ruling