Texas' Fake Breathalyzer Tests
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| Sat, 10-10-2009 - 12:48am |
And this is just another reason why Americans should be alarmed at the places that allow cops to hold you down, another cop use a needle to take blood for a suspected DWI. The Houston Crime Lab has had more than it's share of problems, even shut down once, I believe. Not to mention that Fred Zane worked awhile in Texas. A most evil man, imo. I don't understand how people who are so entrusted for the safety, and justice, of Americans can screw them over without a thought...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6661113.html
Fake Intoxilyzer tests invalidate stacks of DWIs
More than 1,200 Harris County DWI convictions will be set aside and the cases revisited, prosecutors said Friday after the sentencing of Deetrice Wallace, a Department of Public Safety contractor who faked inspections of alcohol breath testing devices.
“Quite frankly, a lot of these cases are gone,†Harris County Assistant District Attorney Terese Buess said. “A lot of those cases will not have evidence to go forward again.â€
About 1,000 defendants convicted of driving while intoxicated can petition for a retrial without evidence submitted by Wallace, the prosecutor said. Some defendants had more than one case affected.
About 1,000 defendants convicted of driving while intoxicated can petition for a retrial without evidence submitted by Wallace, the prosecutor said. Some defendants had more than one case affected.
Buess said Wallace signed off on about 4,000 test slips. Of those, some did not result in convictions and others were not in Harris County. Buess did not know how other counties would address the problem.
The prosecutor was not optimistic about seeking 1,200 convictions again because the office will not have test results, and other evidence has been destroyed, including videotapes.
Buess prosecuted Wallace for three counts of tampering with a governmental record, a state jail felony. State District Judge Jeannine Barr sentenced her to a year behind bars.
She had faced a maximum of two years and a fine of up to $10,000.
Wallace's attorney, George “Mac†Secrest, said his client was contrite and embarrassed at Friday's hearing.
“She apologized profusely,†Secrest said.
Wallace also taught robotics at Sharpstown High School and had been named Teacher of the Year in 2006 by the Education Foundation of Harris County.
DPS officials invalidated all breath tests recorded by Intoxilyzers under Wallace's supervision because they could not pinpoint a date where she became unethical.
Falsified inspections
From 2002 until she was arrested in October 2008, Wallace handled DPS instruments that were used to determine alcohol concentration in DWI cases for at least seven police departments — League City, Friendswood, Webster, Seabrook, Galveston, Clute and South Houston.
In court documents, Wallace told investigators that she had falsified inspection records for both the South Houston and Clute police department Intoxilyzers.
Some of the police departments owned the Intoxilyzers under Wallace's supervision, while others borrowed or leased the devices from her.
Buess said Wallace manipulated the machines instead of changing the reference sample every month, and pocketed $146,000.
Although she was paid for work she did not do, Wallace's impact will be on the hundreds of cases that will have to be litigated again from the very beginning.
“We were astounded to see that there were so many,†said JoAnne Musick, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyer's Association. The group is contacting the attorneys who represented each convicted defendant.
Once contacted, the attorney of record will contact the defendant and determine if they want to try the case again. If the defendant wants a new trial, the district attorney's office will agree to it.
The case will then start over in the court where the conviction was obtained.

What makes someone do this or think they'll get away with indefinitely? Don't they realise the repercussions it has on both the law & peoples lives?
There have been several cases of labs falsifying DNA results.....
Lab used by LAPD falsified DNA data
http://www.truthinjustice.org/false-DNA.htm
Inside the DNA Labs
http://www.truthinjustice.org/inside-labs.htm
Tarnish On The 'Gold Standard': Recent Problems In Forensic DNA Testing
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/0/6285f6867724e1e685257124006f9177
Exactly.
Breathalyzers, nor crime labs, can be reliably depended on, imo.
As to the man I spoke of...
There were a bevy of witnesses that testified this woman had stolen a large amount of drugs from a Mexican-American group of drug dealers in town.
If somebody wants you in jail and convicted it can be made to happen.
Your son was run over by our criminal justice system...
My son is in a somewhat similar situation.
We're doing pretty well, thanks.