The following article is directly off of the King County website. Get ready for a wild ride!
http://www.kingcounty.gov/Prosecutor/news/2010/february/dui.aspx
Drunk driving is one of the most dangerous crimes in our community. According to the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission in 2008, drunk drivers accounted for 233 of the 522 people killed on Washington’s roadways. Nationwide, nearly 13,000 people were killed in 2007 in crashes involving a driver with an illegal BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) of .08 or higher. This number represents one-third of all traffic fatalities.
Toxicologists at the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory (State Tox Lab) provide an important role in validating BAC evidence that deputy prosecuting attorneys (DPAs) present at trial. Toxicologists maintain and calibrate the instruments that measure blood alcohol concentration through a breath sample from the suspected drunk driver.
In January 2008, judges in King County District Court ruled that BAC results from alcohol breath tests were inadmissible at trial in most DUI cases because of perceived irregularities in the State Tox Lab's maintenance of simulator solutions used in breath test instruments, among other issues.
In an effort to remedy these perceptions, the state hired a new Toxicologist, Dr. Fiona Couper, to oversee the lab. Dr. Couper conducted a thorough audit of lab protocols, and began the voluntary process of getting the lab's Toxicology Division Breath Calibration Program accredited by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The lab's Breath Calibration Program has now received ISO accreditation. These accreditation standards are internationally recognized as being the "gold standard" and the highest in the world. Only three other breath calibration programs world-wide have achieved this accreditation. As a result, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office (PAO) has recently filed a motion in District Court to once again allow breath test evidence to be admitted in court.
Suppression of breath test evidence has made DUI cases more challenging, but it has not prevented the PAO from continuing to prosecute the nearly 4,000 DUIs referred to the office each year. Without breath test evidence, the PAO proves DUI cases by offering evidence of bad driving, poor performance on field sobriety tests, and other signs of driver impairment. There is, however, no substitute for the power of the best evidence of intoxication -- the scientific measurement of blood alcohol concentration through a breath alcohol test. The PAO has begun the legal process to bring that evidence before the juries of King County when they consider the crime of DUI.
For information on your Washington State DUI please contact our Snohomish County DUI attorneys, King County DUI attorneys, Island County DUI attorneys, or Skagit County DUI attorneys at 425-493-1115 or check out our website at http://www.washdui.com/
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