A Maryland DWI Blog | Jimeno & Gray P.A.

The Maryland State Police have announced that they have opened a new laboratory to analyze blood samples taken from drivers suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. Prior to the opening of the new lab, all blood testing for the presence of drugs in a detained driver had to be sent out of state for analysis.



Requiring all blood tests to be sent out of state for analysis posed a substantial burden on prosecutors to attempt to introduce the results of those tests. Under Maryland law, upon request of the Defendant, the State must produce the person who analyzed the blood as a witness. If the witness was out of state, the State would typically not have the means or opportunity to make the test technician appear for trial. As a result, the results of the blood test would not have been admissible at trial.



With the new testing procedures in place, the State has created an easier path to conviction. The Maryland State Police laboratory will be located in Pikesville, making it more convenient for the test technicians to appear at trial. That being said, the availability of a chemist to appear at trial is only one of the many obstacles facing the State in drugged driving cases. The State still must produce an opinion from a police Drug Recognition Expert that the Defendant was under the influence of a drug at the time he or she was driving a motor vehicle. In addition, the State must also find the nurse who took the Defendant's blood and call the nurse as a witness.

Finally, there have been some significant recent developments in the United States Supreme Court as well as in the Court of Appeals of Maryland with respect to a Defendant's right of confrontation under the Constitution. Some evidence that the State would have relied upon to prove its case by way of documents now must be proven with live witnesses. The outer boundaries of the State's responsibilities to ensure a Defendant's right of confrontation have yet to be determined in driving under the influence cases, although the attorneys in our firm continue to take the position at trial in these cases that the State must produce witnesses at trial, such as the State Toxicologist to prove that the equipment used in blood cases were properly certified for use, as is required under Maryland law.

Click on the following link to read the press release from the Maryland State Police regarding the new blood test laboratory: http://www.mdsp.org/media/press_release_details.asp?identifier=881