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San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris announced she is creating an independent crime lab separate from the police department as a result of the recent problems surrounding the San Francisco crime lab. As you may recall, one of the crime lab technicians was alleged to have drug problems and used inventoried drugs personally while working at the crime lab. So far, about 550 drug cases have been dismissed. In DUI / Drunk Driving cases, both blood and on occasion urine tests are routinely analyzed and tested by law enforcement crime labs. In addition, technicians or chemists from these crime labs… Read More

Britian’s new DUI / Drunk Driving laws are changing to lower the legal limit to the equivilent of .05% alcohol level in a driver’s blood or breath. Once an average man drinks 3 beers, he could most likely be a .05% or greater. An average women would need to drink even less to be at a .05% or greater. However, the new law may only asses points against a driver’s license but not subject the driver to a DUI / Drunk Driving criminal prosecution. In another area, Britian is looking to make it illegal to drive with any illegal substance… Read More

Agents of the State Bureau of Investigations for North Carolina discovered that state crime lab analysts either overstated, omitted or falsified results of blood evidence in dozens of cases. In three of those cases, the defendants were executed. Apparently from 1987-2003, prosecutors were aided by agents of the State Bureau of Investigations who were misrepresenting blood evidence and keeping crucial notes from defense attorneys as well. The above findings were a result of a review 190 cases ordered by the State Attorney General after a man was imprisoned for 17 years for a murder he didn’t commit. As I have… Read More

Recently, I wrote about problems encountered by the San Francisco Crime lab which caused it to close down. Apparently, there are thousands of pages of documents sought by defense attorneys. In addition, the court inquired into how the District Attorney’s Office looks into criminal and/or misconduct committed by law enforcement employees. The District Attorney’s Office indicated it relied on law enforcement to provide the information. This position did not sit well with the court. The information sought by defense attorneys is necessary to determine if any evidence in pending cases as well as closed cases, including DUI / Drunk Driving… Read More

I was recently trying a DUI / Drunk Driving case in Torrance, California. During one of the breaks, I was speaking with one of the arresting officers. He indicated that in this bad economy, it seems more people are driving with expired license plates because they don’t have the money to keep them current. Driving with expired license plates is a sufficient basis in which to stop a driver. Obviously, these types of stops can lead to more DUI / Drunk Driving investigations and arrests. It won’t matter if the driver is otherwise not violating any other traffic laws. The… Read More

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 180 narcotic cases have been dropped by San Francisco prosecutors since a San Francisco Police Department crime lab scandal recently became public. The crime lab has been closed since March 9th. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has stated that more cases will be dismissed unless and until the drugs seized can be tested by a different source. Apparently, a criminalist employed at the crime lab is suspected of possibly taking cocaine from the crime lab. It was reported that the criminalist’s sister contacted a lab supervisor on December 16, 2009, and reported that… Read More

According to the Orange County Register, a study done for the year 2009 by Investigative Reporting Program at University of California-Berkely with California Watch found that more cars are seized than DUI / Drunk Driving arrests are made. Impounding of cars generated approximately ,000,000 in towing fees and police fines. This revenue is divided by cities and towing firms. Police officers received about $30,000,000 in overtime pay for the extra DUI / Drunk Driving enforcement. Also, during 2009, police seized more than 24,000 vehicles at checkpoints. This represents an increase of 53% from 2007. Apparently, DUI / Drunk Driving sobriety… Read More

Our client was stopped for DUI / Drunk Driving after he was observed driving erratically including drifting into the left lane with his right turn signal on, correcting back to the center lane and drifting again into the left lane almost striking the center median wall. After the stop, the officer’s observations included the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and red and glassy eyes. There were 2 empty containers of beer on the passenger floorboard. After being administered four field sobriety tests, which the officer indicated our client did poorly, our client was arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving. Our… Read More

Our client was stopped for making an unsafe lane change. He had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. His eyes indicated that he had consumed alcohol. He was questioned by the police officer. During the field sobriety tests our client was swaying, unable to walk a straight line, unable to lift his legs for 30 seconds and unable to touch the tip of his nose with the tip of his finger. He then took 2 on-scene breath tests with the results being .20 and .17. Our client was then arrested for DUI and refused either a further breath… Read More

A several months ago, a woman from Neilsville, Wisconsin, called 911 and reported herself as a DUI / Drunk Driver. The driver followed the dispatcher’s direction to pull over to the side of the road and turn on her flashers. When the police officers arrived, the woman was investigated and arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving. Apparently, her breath alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit for Wisconsin. The arrest occurred in a rural area of Wisconsin, about three miles northeast of Neilsville which is located in Central Wisconsin. When the driver was asked by the dispatcher if… Read More