The Truth About Blood Tests
It’s time for a bit of honesty about blood alcohol tests in Wisconsin, that the government doesn't want you to know.
Blood alcohol tests are often unreliable, yet thousands of convictions are based on them each year.
Our firm along with a team of our colleagues found a series of irregularities in blood alcohol tests done at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. We call the abnormalities The Jagged Hump, and their appearance casts doubt on the reliability of blood alcohol tests. We have published articles on this in the Wisconsin Law Journal.
There is an old myth that breath testing can be challenged, but blood testing can’t. We know better. The truth is that there is a lot more that care go wrong with a blood test. If you believe that your blood test result just cannot be correct, the fact is that it may not be correct.
That is why Mishlove and Stuckert, LLC has become the first law firm in Wisconsin, and only one of a few firms in the world, with the ability to reprocess any blood alcohol analysis done at the Wisconsin State Hygiene Lab or any other lab that uses Perkin Elmer instruments. That means that we can run computer diagnostic tests on your blood analysis, right in our office!
There are two different common procedures used to perform blood tests: enzymatic assays, and headspace gas chromatography. While hospitals typically use enzymatic assays for medical testing purposes, it doesn’t work well in court cases, so almost all Wisconsin OWI cases are based on headspace gas chromatography. Many things can go wrong with this type of test:
- Expired test tubes
- Contaminated test tubes
- Poor blood storage techniques
- Ineffective preservatives or anti-coagulants in the test tube
- Poor sample labeling which leads to mixed up samples
- Poor measurements during sample preparation
- Non-sterile techniques or equipment during sample preparation
- Poorly calibrated test equipment
- Poorly maintained test equipment
- Carryover from a previous test result
- Failure to repeat the test process or double-check each step
- Poor record-keeping and sample tracking
- electrical interference with the blood test equipment
- software bugs in the computer program that runs the blood test equipment
- defects in the plumbing that carries the sample through the blood test equipment
- defects in the carrier gas that carries the sample through the blood test equipment
- defects in the heaters in the blood test equipment.
- worn out or defective gaskets, seal and O-rings in the blood test equipment
- random errors
This isn’t even a complete list!
A qualified DUI lawyer will know how to look carefully at your blood test, and review the all of lab records for both the test and the equipment involved. That is what it takes to build the defense you deserve.
Wisconsin’s Only True OWI DUI Defense Specialists are Milwaukee’s Nationally-Acclaimed OWI DUI Lawyers.
In Wisconsin, only an attorney who is board-certified by a board that is accredited by the American Bar Association may lawfully use the word “specialist”. In 2004 the American Bar Association accredited the National College for DUI Defense (known as the NCDD) as the only organization in America that may certify specialists in this complex and evolving specialty.
The only board-certified drunk driving defense specialists in Wisconsin, Andrew Mishlove and Lauren Stuckert, are known and respected throughout the United States as experts in OWI DUI cases. AVVO, an independent lawyer rating service, has rated Andrew Mishlove as the top Wisconsin OWI DUI defense lawyer and one of the top DUI attorneys in the United States. A reader poll of the Wisconsin Law Journal rated us as the top firm in the state.
In 2005, Andrew Mishlove achieved the distinction of becoming the first true DUI defense specialist in Wisconsin.The NCDD is an organization made up of over 1500 DUI defense lawyers nationwide. Fewer than one hundred have achieved board certification.
The NCDD is governed by a Board of Regents. In 2011 Andrew Mishlove was named as one of only fifteen Regents of the NCDD. He is truly recognized as the premier OWI DUI defense lawyer in Wisconsin and one of the leading defense lawyers in America.
Lauren Stuckert is now Wisconsin's second, and America's youngest true OWI DUI defense specialist.
Free Legal Consultation
Contact us today for a free OWI DUI case evaluation. We have more than forty years of experience helping people accused of OWI DUI. There is no obligation whatsoever.
The Truth about Blood Alcohol Testing
Attorney Andrew Mishlove explains your options if you have failed a blood alcohol test in Wisconsin.
