Hundreds of cases of DUI in Southern California are believed to be affected, after a new discovery that there were more blood alcohol testing errors made by the Orange County Crime Lab.
The discovery of these new errors comes just a few weeks after the Orange
County Crime Lab admitted that there had been incorrect blood-alcohol
test results in more than 2000 drunk driving cases. Inaccurate test results
have been confirmed in at least 2200 cases. Prosecutors have already responded
to the announcement of those incorrect results by getting in touch with
drivers charged with DUI, including at least 900 persons who were convicted of
DUI
as a result of those inaccurate blood-alcohol tests.
The news that even more errors were committed by the same Orange County Crime Lab in testing DUI samples comes as yet another shock. The Orange County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens have already requested that the California Department of Health review the Orange County Crime Labs procedures and standards.
According to the lab director, the latest error was discovered while a five year audit of the lab's work was on. The audit was triggered after the initial errors were discovered. Auditors found that there was another machine at the same lab that had a calibration error. This error was strong enough to produce blood-alcohol readings that were incorrect by as much as .001 of a percentage point.
These erroneous readings are believed to have been made between December 2012 and May 2013. During that period, the Orange County Crime Lab tested approximately 7,000 samples using the machine. The error is believed to have affected at least 1,000 of the tested samples.
