When a person is pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, the extent
of their intoxication can be determined by any number of testing methods,
including a breathalyzer, field sobriety exam, or direct blood sample
test. The results of these tests are almost always employed by prosecutors
in court seeking a guilty conviction of DUI or DWI charges, and may give
rise to additional serious charges, should other complications such as
injury or death be involved in the incident.

Not far from New Jersey, however, a drunk driving case involving numerous
serious charges, including criminally negligent homicide and reckless
endangerment, may be turned on its head on account of the forensic mishandling
of blood test evidence.

Defense counsel in the case has called upon a forensic pathologist who
asserts that the blood sample taken from the man following a crash that
left one person dead was improperly preserved and stored, causing the
blood to ferment and produce a blood-alcohol content level that was erroneously elevated.

The pathologist has called into serious question the consistency of blood
sample tests in the wake of a drunk driving crash, pointing to both Southwestern
Vermont Medical Center and the New York State Police laboratory as deficient
in their handling of evidence-a procedural lapse that make all the difference
in the defendant’s effort to avoid potential decades of jail time.

A trial for the case has been set for early March, and the man charged
has plead not guilty to all allegations. The importance of a defense attorney’s
insight and litigation capabilities cannot be understated in cases involving
serious drunk driving charges. Working an attorney can help open up options
that may never have been considered otherwise.

Source: Post Star, “Forensic pathologist aids defense in fatal crash case,” Don Lehman, Jan 21, 2013