Prosecution Ends DUI Case Arguments

Prosecutors wrapped up their closing arguments Thursday in a case involving the fate of hundreds of drunk-driving cases allegedly mishandled by the county’s crime lab.

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren is expected to issue a ruling next week.

Although he is reluctant to toss out so many cases, Perren is faced with a good deal of evidence that lab tests were seriously flawed.

“You’re confronted with a willful violation of state law, perhaps compelled by circumstances, but no less willful,” the judge told Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Lee. Lab officials allegedly ignored warnings from the state Department of Health Services to stop conducting tests.

Lee argued that the more than 600 cases involved should not be dismissed because the blood samples taken from motorists were obtained legally, and therefore retests of the samples are valid.

“Is there any reason in law or logic to exclude those tests?” she said.