DUI BACKLOG RAISES PRESSURE ON COURTS, ANALYSTS IN TURN

Frustrated judges are postponing driving-under-the-influence trials -- and
in at least one county, dismissing cases -- because it takes too long for
blood tests to return from the Kentucky State Police laboratories.

"The judges in my counties have read the riot act to prosecutors because it
has taken six to eight weeks to get blood samples back and schedule a
trial," said Andrew Coiner, a lawyer who specializes in DUI defense in
Western Kentucky.

Interviews with a dozen prosecutors, from Calloway to Fayette to Rowan
counties, confirm similar tensions across the state.

Judges say they're caught between a 1991 law pressuring them to resolve DUI
cases within 90 days of the arrest and chronic test backlogs at the labs.

Tests are needed to determine the level of alcohol or drugs in a driver's
blood. Lab officials said alcohol tests can take a month or more, given
current backlogs, while drug tests require up to six months. Delays won't
end until more lab analysts are hired to handle the growing workload, said
a former supervisor. Fred Chumbler, who ran the toxicology and solid-dosage
drug unit, quit this summer after 23 years, in part because of understaffing.

Chumbler said he had seven analysts but needed at least three more just to
overcome the backlog. The money never seemed to be there, he said.

"In a nutshell, I saw no light at the end of the tunnel," Chumbler said.
"The crush of cases and the insurmountable backlog, it's a grind on a daily
basis that just wears you down."

"You would get these calls coming in from different counties saying, 'Well,
the judge is going to dismiss the case if we don't get the results back by
Monday,"' he said. "I have no doubt there are cases dismissed because they
don't have their lab reports back."

Clay District Judge Oscar Gayle House dismissed a DUI charge May 14 against
Hubert Henson, according to court records. Manchester police said Henson,
49, weaved across a road Nov. 21 and hit another car. The other driver
suffered minor injuries, a prosecutor said.

Police sent Henson's blood sample to the state police lab in London for
alcohol and drug tests, according to records. An initial report in December
showed no alcohol, but the subsequent drug study never arrived, said Clay
County Attorney Clay Bishop Jr.

The toxicology report was completed June 6 and showed "many illegal drugs"
present in Henson's system, said Lt. Lisa Rudzinski, state police
spokeswoman. By then, though, Henson's case had been dismissed, Rudzinski said.

"We don't have anything indicating the court requested the results prior to
June," Rudzinski said.

Henson couldn't be reached for comment.

Dropped DUI cases are a serious concern for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
of Kentucky.

"There's enough other factors right now causing DUI cases to be dismissed,
with the legal loopholes," said Mike Riley, MADD of Kentucky's
victim-assistance coordinator.

"It's disheartening to hear of cases being lost, and drunken drivers being
put back on the streets, because of lab delays -- especially when the
evidence finally proves the driver was impaired," Riley said.

Henson's case is one of about a dozen in Clay County this year in which DUI
charges were dropped because the labs didn't report back in time, Bishop said.

"Right now, the judges and the prosecutors are in a Catch-22 situation,"
Bishop said.

"The Supreme Court has told us 'You will resolve these DUI cases within 90
days,"' he said. "But you can't get back the blood results on time. It lets
people off the hook, and it makes our (conviction) numbers look terrible."

Most of the state's drunken-driving cases -- about 40,000 arrests a year --
don't require the services of a state police lab. Usually, a police officer
gets blood-alcohol data after the suspect blows into a breath analyzer at
the local jail or police department. Drivers are presumed drunk with a
blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more; that number reflects grams of alcohol
per 100 milliliters of blood or 210 liters of breath.

However, hundreds of blood samples are forwarded to the labs each year.
Sometimes a breath analyzer is broken, or police suspect illegal drugs, not
alcohol, impaired the driver. If the suspect is hurt in a crash, he might
not be capable of a breath test, so blood is drawn instead.

Jeff Warnecke, who runs the central lab's forensic biology unit in
Frankfort, said the average response time for blood-alcohol tests is about
one month, although some cases take longer. The backlog Sept. 15 was 610 cases.

The toxicology test backlog, to determine the presence of drugs in blood or
urine, was 836 cases on Sept. 15. Lab officials said the caseload jumped
125 percent after 1998 because of increased police efforts to quell drug
abuse, especially OxyContin.

Some judges are so irritated by lab delays that they issue court-ordered
deadlines for the test results. Alcohol or drug data better arrive by the
deadline, the judges warn, or lab analysts are summoned to court to explain
why they shouldn't face contempt of court charges and jail.

"We do that to help them expedite it. We're trying to work with them," said
Hopkins District Judge Carl Hurst.

So far, lab analysts haven't suffered penalties worse than a judge chewing
them out, Warnecke said. But the analysts resent the court orders, he said.

Judges aggravate the situation by demanding that cases from their dockets
come first, and forcing harried technicians to leave the lab for a hearing,
he said.

Like Bishop, Chumbler said the "90-day rule" for DUI cases isn't realistic.
The General Assembly passed the law to put pressure on counties known for
their sluggish DUI prosecutions.

"I understand the reason for it," Chumbler said. "Unfortunately, nobody
thought to ask, 'Can the labs gets the blood tests done in time?"'