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Scottsdale Police Under Fire For Faulty DUI Blood Tests

If you are pulled over by a police officer and accused of drunk driving, your blood sample could be the one piece of evidence the State of Arizona relies on to convict you.

However, in hearings over the past five months, Scottsdale DUI lawyers and experts told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jerry Bernstein that the machine the Scottsdale Police Department crime lab uses to test for blood alcohol has a software glitch, and they believe it could impact hundreds of Arizona DUI cases.

Court documents indicate Scottsdale police were aware for years of potential serious problems with the blood-testing equipment, such as the equipment mislabeling vials with wrong names or numbers, stopping during tests and erasing baseline information from measurements during test runs.

Law-enforcement attorneys and representatives concede that there were instances when blood samples were left out on a bench overnight and that the machine responsible for testing the blood had repeated failures.

The goal of the hearings is for Judge Bernstein to decide that jurors in 11 different DUI trials should not even be able to hear blood alcohol test results from this crime lab given the faulty results. The Judge is expected to issue a ruling within the next week.

Challenging blood alcohol tests and breath tests is not as difficult as some people may believe. These tests have their flaws and if they are not administered appropriately a skilled attorney can call their accuracy into questions. Further, if the test was not administered, handled or maintained properly it may not be admissible in Court.

At the Law Offices of Alex Lane, challenging breath and blood test evidence is an important step in our defense strategy. We know the flaws of these tests. We know the mistakes that are frequently made when they are administered and we know how to fight DUI charges. Contact us today for a free consultation.




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If you have been charged with a DUI, drug charge, sex crime or any serious criminal offense, let an experienced defense team fight for you. Schedule a consultation with one of our partners today. Call (480) 562-3482 or send an email.