I blogged recently about lab errors and why they must be investigated and accounted for. You can also read about other lab errors and fraud here. In those posts, as with other posts, I recounted some recent stories concerning laboratory errors or fraud which had resulted in innocent people being convicted of DUI, sent to jail, and deprived of driver’s licenses. Now, a new situation in Minnesota further highlights these kinds of problems. It seems that the crime lab in Andover, Minnesota, miscalculated the urine test results in 111 DUI cases back in January. This miscalculation led to the test results being 1/3 higher than what they really were. “There was no bad science “, says Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Department. Ha! This was the epitome of bad science. The “scientists” used the wrong mathematical calculation in coming up with the results. No one caught it for 6 months. The only reason it was discovered was apparently because the urine test results were so much higher than preliminary breath test results which had been done on the arrestees in the field. Had someone not noticed and raised a question about these results, who knows how long this “mathematical miscalculation” (which is basically Urine Testing 101) would have continued.
This is human error, and mistakes happen. We are all human and subject to making errors, mathematical or otherwise. But, how often does this sort of thing happen and it doesn’t get noticed? How many regular folks have been falsely led to believe that they were guilty when they were not? When people are told that their breath, blood or urine sample is over the legal limit, most just accept it and figure the machines or “scientists” are infallible. This MN case is a perfect example why each person charged with a DUI in Kansas needs to hire the best Kansas DUI lawyer that he or she can possibly find. You have to turn over every stone, question every process, get all maintenance, calibration and testing records, get all of the training and testing protocols, watch every minute of every video and otherwise rip apart every piece of evidence to try to determine whether the results of testing are accurate and evidence was legally obtained. Even so, it is difficult to uncover some of the errors and fraud occuring with respect to DUI testing. Every test result in every Kansas DUI needs to be investigated and questioned. You never know when the “scientists” are going to forget how to perform simple math problems.