DUI Blood Test Results-How to Fight Them

Posted Thursday, July 18, 2019 by Andrew Charles Huff

Since the state of Washington legalized the personal use of marijuana, I have seen a steady rise in arrest for those suspected of smoking too much weed and driving a vehicle. Whether or not you are at the legal limit of 5 ngs of THC, you can most likely anticipate to be prosecuted if arrested for driving after smoking.

Unlike alcohol, THC is tested directly in your blood and not through your breath. This requires your blood to be drawn and tested at one of the state’s toxicology labs. But like breath testing for alcohol, there are many areas to challenge the results and keep them out as evidence.

• Guidelines for collection, transport, preservation and storage of the blood sample were not in compliance

• The person who drew the blood was not properly certified

• The blood sample was mislabeled and cannot be conclusively be identified

• A second sample was not obtained by police for defense to have retested

• A retest by an independent lab show significant discrepancies between the two results

• The blood vial was tampered with or not properly sealed during preservation or transport

• The blood kit’s expiration date has expired

• The blood results were artificially inflated because the lab technician tested only blood serum or plasma instead of the whole blood

• When preparing your arm for the blood draw, officials did not use proper or approved cleaning agents, such as rubbing alcohol

• Excessive preservative in the vacuum tube may result in an inaccurate reading

The above are some of the many challenges to I look to make in ever blood draw case with the goal of showing the court the evidence is invalid or inaccurate. This can result in cases being either reduced or dismissed because the prosecutor cannot meet their burden of proof.