The Lansing State Journal reports this morning that 79th District Court Court Judge Peter Wadel has refused to admit blood-alcohol test results from the state crime lab in a drunken-driving case, saying that the lab’s test results “are not reliable.”
From the LSJ:
[Wadel] 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.
Police routinely report a single number for blood-alcohol content in drunken-driving cases. But 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.
Here’s the full story from LSJ reporter Kevin Grasha.
The Michigan Lawyer 