Forensic blood testing is misleading because blood tests in DUI cases don’t actually test your blood. If you have ever been arrested for a DUI in Arizona, and the officers or their proxies drew blood, then you are likely aware that two 10 ml grey top tubes of blood are drawn for a blood test. The myth is that one tube is preserved for you (the defendant), and the other is tested by the State’s crime lab.
However, the blood itself is never tested by a crime lab. In fact, only the air above your blood is tested.
How does that work? Well, the blood sample is taken out of a refrigerator, and only a very, very small amount of it is placed in a separate vial. (When I say small, we’re taking about a quarter of a drop.) The blood is then mixed with a larger but still small amount of solution, and is sealed and heated in a tray. The blood testing machine thenpunctures the top of the vial and sucks out all of the air.
This air is what is tested, NOT the blood. As you can tell, the blood testing process relies on hundreds of things being perfectly calibrated, and also relies on there being human error. When put into perspective of the assembly lines that are the local Arizona crime labs, it is incredible that any of the BAC results come out correct.
Modern blood testing is disingenuous in its declarations of accuracy, and only experienced Arizona DUI attorneys can show the test for fraud that it is.
