Drunk Driving DUI Law

Is your license suspended or revoked because of a DUI in Southern Colorado? Some may get it back.

An error found in Colorado Springs DUI blood testing now has at least 82 test results being sent to an independent lab because they may have tested higher than the actual result.

Now, police, the district attorney’s office and local attorneys are working to fix the problem. Colorado Springs Police found the results of more than 80 DUI tests in 2009 may be higher than the actual result.

“That’s very concerning and alarming for me and my clients,” says Alvin Brown, a Colorado Springs attorney. “This is a regrettable circumstance. But we’re hopeful these don’t have detrimental effects,” says Lt. David Whitlock of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

That leaves local DUI attorneys, like Alvin Brown, with some questions. “Do any of my clients have results that are in this batch of bad tests? And what can we do? And why did it happen” says Brown. He’s now spending his time going through file after file and contacting his clients.

But the next step is still unclear and depends on each case. “Right now, it’s too early. Obviously if the case is still pending that is something we can discuss with the district attorney” says Brown.

“If it turns out they’re below the legal limit, we’ll dismiss those cases because we don’t want to pursue somebody that wasn’t drunk driving,” says Dan May, 4th Judicial District Attorney.

Brown says it will take cooperation from many agencies to make this wrong a right. “Hopefully everyone can work together and hopefully help the clients in particular who have been affected,” says Brown.

The district’s attorney’s office has set-up a hotline for drivers who have a question about their case. Drivers can call next week between Tuesday and Friday. The phone number is (719) 520-6265.

Colorado Springs Police say the Metro Crime Lab discovered the mistake last month, when they were doing internal quality assurance testing.

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