While independence is necessary for any laboratory to insure against bias, it is just a start. Without meaningful double blind unannounced proficiency-based testing of every technician conducted by yet and another independent certified set of laboratory auditors, then it means nothing. We also need the technicians to be true credentialed scientists having graduated from brick…
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Putting Innocent People in Jail
I came across this article and it made me sick to my stomach. It made me mad and when you read it I’m sure you’ll be mad too. A “forensics” lab in San Diego was found to be producing faulty test results that lead to innocent people being convicted of being under the influence of…
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What’s more important Sports or Courts?
Olympic doping lab world’s most sophisticated A dope-testing lab considered the most sophisticated in the world is up and running for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I read this article the other day and it got me thinking: What’s more important making sure a cheater doesn’t win a race or making sure an innocent…
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Why saying the sample was run on a gas chromatograph is nearly meaningless
Saying the sampling was done on a Gas Chromatograph is like saying that you won a car. Both description are useful in that they help differentiate. In the case of all vehicles, it is useful to distinguish cars from trucks or motorcycles. Whereas in the case of chemical testing, it is useful to distinguish gas…
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A large problem in Gas Chromatography: No uniform standard for GC run position or composition
I try to learn everything that I can about analytical testing. Not being a scientist and only being a lawyer, I am an outsider to this fascinating world. I find that as I learn more, more questions present themselves. As an outsider last year l learned something that really kind of surprised me. When Gas…
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Metrology in DUI prosecution
Metrology is the body of science surrounding measurement or how we know for certain or for as near as certain as scientifically possible that some measurement is in fact that quantitative measure. It is the very essence of measurement. Because if we do not know that some measurement is accurate, precise and true, then we…
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Why forensic science testing for DUI BAC determination is the silly sister of analytical science: Good Laboratory Practices
I have written before, perhaps rhetorically: Why if someone is allowed full due process of law are we also not entitled to due process of science? It seems backward. Law at the expense of science or science at the expense of law, doesn’t it? One would think rationally that we would be entitled to full…
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Why it is right to be a modern day skeptic: The need to continue to challenge sacred cows: Paradigm Shift
(Pictured above: A sacred cow) A sacred cow is defined as "an object or practice which is considered immune from criticism, especially unreasonably so." They exist all around us. Some healthy. Most are not. It is vitally important for the evolution of man and science to identify, examine and challenge sacred cows. In short to…
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Harrisburg based DUI Lawyer earns Field Sobriety Assessment certification
Harrisburg based Pennsylvania DUI Lawyer, Justin J McShane, Esquire on January 8, 2009, became Pennsylvania’s first and consequently only certified attorney in “Field Sobriety Assessment” or (FSA). From, the the FSA website FSA promotes objective, science-based behavioral assessment of intoxication, including the use of field sobriety testing. It provides training and certification to professionals involved in DWI…
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Dude, I just got convicted by a breath test machine that was state-of-the-art in 1984
I frequently talk to people about evidentiary breath testing. I explain the weaknesses of one infamous and silly device called the Intoxilyzer 5000. This is the breath test machine used by the Harrisburg Police Department and other surrounding police departments. After I explained a lot of the shortcomings it seems that about 9 out of…
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