A judicial ruling against the state's toxicology lab is likely to create a legal quagmire when it comes to prosecuting suspected drunken drivers, attorneys are predicting.
While breath-test evidence before was usually considered reliable, its accuracy is now in doubt after a panel of King County District Court judges found a litany of ethical and scientific problems at the lab. How those problems affect drunken-driving cases could take months — if not longer — to play out, attorneys say.
Some may end up in the Court of Appeals, some charges will be reduced and other cases tried as charged. It's unlikely, attorneys say, that any drunken-driving cases will be dismissed outright.
For the past few months, district courts in Washington have been hearing motions by defense attorneys to suppress results from breath tests after former state toxicology lab manager Ann Marie Gordon admitted she'd signed off on tests she had not actually done. ...
