Recently, the Broward Medical Examiner's Office has expressed some doubts as to the validity of the results of chemcial tests over the past ten years.
Specifically, these chemcial tests have been used to check blood samples of accused people in DUI, DUI with serious bodily injury, and DUI manslaughter cases.
When blood is taken from a suspect, the Medical Examiner's Office runs tests on that blood to check not only for the presence of alcohol, but for the presence of narcotics, such as cocaine, marijuana, and oxycodone.
Now, the Medical Examiner himself is questioning the accuracy of his agency's test results. This means that in past cases where the ME's Office certified test results and the accused was convicted, those cases could be coming back for new trials.
Chemcial testing is a scientific test and as such, the test results must be validated. If there is any doubt as to the validity of the test results, the evidence cannot be used against the accused.
If the convictions are particularly old and the blood samples no longer exist and cannot be re-tested, those convictions may be vacated and those defendants may be exonerated.
Eric Matheny is a DUI attorney practicing in Miami-Dade and Broward.