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Monday, August 13, 2012
By Michael Nichols
Categories: Drunk-Driving
The Michigan State Police forensic services division will only report what it wants the court to see when it conducts a blood analysis for alcohol and other drugs. "As we pointed out, they turn off the noise on their instruments so that we cannot see problems with the analysis by setting the instruments to what is commonly called the 'auto zero' mode," says Michigan OWI-OUIL-DUI attorney Mike Nichols of East Lansing. (see "Show Us the Noise" on this homepage)
The lab was forced to turn over the 'raw data' in a case but told Nichols that it would be no good to him because he did not have proprietary software to analyze it. The prosecutor asked Nichols if he wanted to just give up his challenge. "This was an easy decision on many levels," said Nichols.
He bought the proprietary software.
Now the Nichols Law Firm has the power to see what has been hidden for so long in any case where a blood analysis is conducted for alcohol, marijuana or other drugs. Nichols says: "we told them to show us the noise - that is where so many problems with the separation or identification of alcohol or other drugs can be identified. It is also where we can see whether the identification of a drug like marijuana could really be a false positive that is instrument noise and not the signal from the compound of interest."
The software shows the true baseline is in a gas chromatography or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. The gas chromatograph separates the compounds in the blood sample. It is used to separate, and then by analyzing the retention time of each compound and finally by measuring the strength of the signal that each compound produces, it claims to be able to identify and measure volatile organic compounds in human blood like alcohol. Nichols adds: "there is one more thing - the chromatograph only measures gas produced by your blood sample when it is sampled and mixed with another type of alcohol that is used as a measuring stick and de-ionized water - it does not really analyze your blood. That is why we need to see every source of error in the result."
For the lawyer who is dedicated to uncovering the secrets behind the government's claims in your case, e-mail Mike Nichols at mnichols@nicholslaw.net or call us at 517.432.9000.