Burbank DUI News: Blood Testing Debacle in Tennessee Threatens Nearly 2,000 Cases

Were your Burbank DUI blood test results foolproof?

Perhaps… but then again, perhaps not.

Odds are high that police followed proper procedure and avoided breaking laws or trampling your Constitutional rights. But you never know.

Consider in this context a spectacular story out of Tennessee. A former special agent, Kyle Bayer, just got canned, after a police investigation showed that Bayer had tampered with a DUI blood test. Bayer’s mishandling of evidence could jeopardize literally thousands of DUI cases throughout the state.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) says authorities learned about Bayer’s misdeeds, after a local defense attorney cross-checked the blood results for a client accused of vehicular homicide. Dale Edward Farrell caused a vehicular death on March 16, killing Knoxville, TN architect, Edward Bankston. Farrell submitted a blood test, and it came back from the lab at 0.24 percent BAC. (As regular readers of our Burbank DUI blog know, that number is exactly three times the legal limit for driving under the influence in Southern California, per California Vehicle Code Section 23152.)

When Farrell’s defense attorney submitted the blood test, however, it came back at 0.01 percent – 8 times below the legal limit… and 24 times below what the original blood test showed!

An executive at TBI, Robert Daniel Royse, wrote about what happened: “All indications are that this is an isolated incident by an examiner who, despite extensive training, switched two adjacent blood samples at the onset of an analysis process and then failed to follow a number of procedural checkpoints, which would have caught the error.”

Once this information came to light, Farrell’s vehicular homicide and DUI charges were dismissed. It’s still unclear how this fiasco will resonate: will other DUI convictions be overturned? If so, how many?

But this story clearly illustrates that DUI defendants in Burbank (and elsewhere) should NOT simply accept test results at face value.

If you or someone you love was recently been stopped at a checkpoint on Olive or pulled over on the 134 under suspicion of DUI, an attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can explain your rights and develop a methodological, insightful defense. Connect with an experienced Burbank DUI defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for more help with your case.

If you have been arrested for a DUI in Burbank or you are under investigation for driving under the influence in Southern California, please contact Burbank criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut for 24/7 assistance by phone at (818) 563-9810 or toll free at (888) 334-6344 or online. We’re located at 2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505.