Skagit case challenges DUI test lab results
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - Lawyers who specialize in drunken driving cases will likely be watching Skagit County District Court on Monday when alcohol test results are challenged because of problems at the state toxicology lab.
Alleged misconduct and errors have already led Department of Licensing examiners to reinstate licenses for 36 people statewide who were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Defense lawyers in several counties are moving to have more DUI cases dismissed. The Skagit County hearing could set a standard for how they are handled.
The court in Mount Vernon will hear testimony on motions to dismiss dozens of cases from Skagit County.
Deputy prosecutor Toni Montgomery said testimony will begin with 24 witnesses for the defense, many of them state lab employees and toxicologists. The testimony could take several days.
Prosecutors from King and Snohomish counties are expected to attend. Montgomery said prosecutors have talked about using the testimony as record in other cases.
"They've talked about using that record for their motions so that the toxicologists don't have to travel across the state," Montgomery said. "When you subpoena every toxicologist from the toxicology lab, they aren't able to do their job."
The lab operated by the State Patrol is being challenged because of the July 20 resignation of manager Ann Marie Gordon. She was accused of signing sworn statements saying that she had personally checked that breath-test machines were working properly, when it appears other toxicologists did the checks.
In another problem, machine calibration errors affected eight cases statewide.
Prosecutors will argue that aside from those eight cases, the test results and subsequent convictions should stand, Montgomery said.
Defense lawyers say the errors and alleged misconduct lead to an erosion of confidence in the lab and its tests.
"We believe the disregard for policy and process goes deep enough that it calls into question the (lab's) effectiveness as a whole," said Bill Bowman of the Bellevue firm of Fox Bowman and Duarte, which is representing many of the defendants.
Alleged misconduct and errors have already led Department of Licensing examiners to reinstate licenses for 36 people statewide who were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Defense lawyers in several counties are moving to have more DUI cases dismissed. The Skagit County hearing could set a standard for how they are handled.
The court in Mount Vernon will hear testimony on motions to dismiss dozens of cases from Skagit County.
Deputy prosecutor Toni Montgomery said testimony will begin with 24 witnesses for the defense, many of them state lab employees and toxicologists. The testimony could take several days.
Prosecutors from King and Snohomish counties are expected to attend. Montgomery said prosecutors have talked about using the testimony as record in other cases.
"They've talked about using that record for their motions so that the toxicologists don't have to travel across the state," Montgomery said. "When you subpoena every toxicologist from the toxicology lab, they aren't able to do their job."
The lab operated by the State Patrol is being challenged because of the July 20 resignation of manager Ann Marie Gordon. She was accused of signing sworn statements saying that she had personally checked that breath-test machines were working properly, when it appears other toxicologists did the checks.
In another problem, machine calibration errors affected eight cases statewide.
Prosecutors will argue that aside from those eight cases, the test results and subsequent convictions should stand, Montgomery said.
Defense lawyers say the errors and alleged misconduct lead to an erosion of confidence in the lab and its tests.
"We believe the disregard for policy and process goes deep enough that it calls into question the (lab's) effectiveness as a whole," said Bill Bowman of the Bellevue firm of Fox Bowman and Duarte, which is representing many of the defendants.