BAC Blood Test Serum Sample Test in Miami Dui

The most critical element in a Miami dui trial is the jury selection.

This is because a dui is a crime like speeding that many people regularly engage in.

BAC Blood Tests...

If the accused was taken to a hospital and a blood draw was taken there are two types of blood tests that can be used a serum sample and a whole blood sample. The strategies for Miami dui defense differ based upon the type of test that is used.

Serum Blood Sample Defense

A serum blood differs from a whole blood sample by having the blood separated into two parts. The first part is the blood serum and the second part is white and red blood cells and platelets. The serum is then placed into a machine and a serum blood test reading is taken. The alcohol level in the serum is more highly concentrated because alcohol more naturally stays in the serum liquid. Therefore an estimate is made typically between 18-20% reduction is applied to the serum sample. The lab technician will also run two controls of known alcohol levels, if these tests are within 6% higher or lower then the sample is deemed to be within the margin for error and can therefore be used as a legal sample. There is typically no preservative placed in a serum blood sample and therefore they are no longer useable for retesting within 24 hours.

Checklist for serum sample dui defense

Make sure the hospital lab technician performed the conversion; it is amazing how many serum blood tests are over stated.
Check to make sure the initial blood test number the lab machine develops is reduced by the appropriate margin for error.
Ask the lab technician at trial what the margin for error was on the machine for that particular sample. Hospitals do not normally keep records of that. The lab technician should be attacked for not knowing the correct number and keeping a record of this. What evidence does the defense have that the machine was functioning properly?
Ask for an immediate retesting of the sample. Most people are typically incarcerated until they can post bond the next morning. The serum blood sample will begin fermenting almost immediately. When the next lab tests the blood sample the results will vary from the original sample. The prosecution will then have to explain that the blood was fermenting and therefore the alcohol concentration was rising. Once the prosecution has to make this explanation the case begins to erode.
Often times the phlebotomist making the blood draw will use something other than the hospital protocol. This can result in the inadmissibility of the blood test.
Were all hospital procedures followed? Subpoena the entire hospital protocol for legal blood draws. Usually the hospital will give less than the full amount of information to defense. At trial ask questions not included in the protocol, when answers are given ask where they are as a part of the protocol. If they explain that the entire protocol was not given look the have the blood test held to be inadmissible.

Serum samples are more problematic for the prosecutions case. Jury's are especially uncomfortable with the conversion as every human's blood is different. Jury's will also typically not find it fair that retesting the blood sample was not possible.

Whole Blood Sample Defense

With a Whole Blood Sample the defense does not have as much luxury as with the serum sample as there is less likelihood for mistakes. However the US Constitution has added some aids that make a Whole Blood Sample advantageous to the defense.

The first thing the defense should do is to see where the Whole Blood Sample was tested. Was it tested at a local testing center or was it sent off to a laboratory? If it was tested in Miami then establishing the chain of custody for the prosecution will not be as difficult. However many police departments send these Miami dui blood samples off to labs that or in other states. Therefore anyone that touches that sample in the chain of custody must come to the Miami dui trial and this adds a great deal of cost to the prosecution.

A blood additive that serves as an anti-coagulate keeps the blood platelets from adhering to the wall of the vial and a preservative is added that will make retesting for up to 1 year possible. Therefore retesting the sample in most cases will not aid the defenses case.