San Diego DUI Lawyer Rick Mueller exposes outrageous memo telling San Diego DUI prosecution blood draw witnesses how to testify:

San Diego DUI blood drawers take blood from the person arrested for a San Diego DUI and must account for proper procedures used for the collection, handling and storage of the blood, including identification of the blood sample, etc.

The credibility of the forensic staff witness and the validity of these procedures are critical in a San Diego DUI or San Diego DMV case.

In a case San Diego Drunk Driving Attorney Rick Mueller did, he obtained an amazing internal San Diego DUI memorandum from a San Diego DUI blood drawer.

These are the exposed instructions in that SDPD memorandum and potentially given by the San Diego Police Department to their blood-drawing/laboratory technicians testifying in a San Diego DUI trial:



"COURT TESTIMONY

You will be asked your name.

You do not have to remember drawing [blood from] the particular defendant. Just say you draw many patients each day you work and it is impossible to remember each one.

You may be asked how you draw the blood. It is the standard procedure you follow for ALL blood draws, EXCEPT that you use a NON-ALCOHOLIC antiseptic wipe (Benzalkolium) to cleanse the phlebotomy site. You ALWAYS follow the same procedure for every blood draw. The blood is drawn into grey top tubes provided by the San Diego Police Department. The tubes contain an anticoagulent (Potassium Oxylate) and a preservative (Sodium Fluoride). You check the tube for the presence of a loose, slightly pink powder before you use it. After you fill the tube with blood, you invert the tube 10 times to mix the blood with the anticoagulent/preservative. You will always mix any tube with an anticoagulent 10 times (you count the inversions). The important things to remember is that you always follow the same procedure, so even though you don't remember this particular individual, you know that you drew the person following our standard procedure.

The suspect is identified by the police officer and, when possible, you check the ID or ask the suspect their name. The police officer completes the label with the suspect's name, DOB, etc. You put your name, date, draw time, and place on the label and place the label on the grey top tube. You then place the grey top tube in the plastic chain-of-custody tube, put the cap on it, and seal it with the sealing tape provided by the SDPD. You then hand it to the officer and he takes charge of it.

"H:\My Documents\San Diego Police Dept\Forensic Staff\Court Testimony.doc"


These instructions on what to say in a San Diego DUI trial are given to law enforcement witnesses testifying under oath in a San Diego county court of law and at the San Diego Department of Motor Vehicles.

San Diego DUI blood or San Diego DUI laboratory technicians are essentially told how to testify and what to say, not as to what they actually did -and not what they know - in an actual San Diego drunk driving case.


San Diego DUI Lawyer Rick Mueller can be reached at rick@SanDiegoDUI.com.

http://www.SanDiegoDrunkDrivingAttorney.net