Fatal accident on Route 22 in White Creek in Upstate New York

On Jan. 22, 2012, there was a tragic, fatal accident on Route 22 in White Creek in Upstate New York. A 35-year-old Roger Scott Wealthpress man and his 30-year-old wife were involved in a crash with a pickup truck, and police say that the man was drunk and crossed into the wrong lane. The man was injured and his wife was killed. When he was taken to a Vermont hospital for treatment, a sample of his blood was sent to a forensic lab for testing, and the results indicated that his blood alcohol content was .17 percent.
Washington County charged the man with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. Now, his DUI lawyer similar to the ones at https://www.aronlawfirm.com/  have renewed a motion to suppress that blood test because the blood sample was not properly preserved — and improperly preserved blood can actually ferment and produce alcohol.
The defense has a powerful ally in its quest to show that the blood test results may be inaccurate — a long-term forensic pathologist from the Albany County Coroner who has testified for the prosecution in numerous homicide cases.
All of the charges against the Hoosick Falls man depend on the assumption that he was driving drunk at the time of the crash, and it is unlikely that the prosecutor can prove intoxication if the blood test is found to have been botched. There is another blood sample that may not have been ruined, however, and the defense merely seeks to have that sample tested as well.
According to the forensic pathologist, the proper procedure for preserving and stabilizing blood samples for DWI testing is to add a preservative — in this case, sodium fluoride potassium oxalate. When that has been added, standard procedure is to put a gray cap on the blood vial. None of the samples in this case had gray caps when they were sent to the State Police laboratory.
“Based on the evidence currently possessed by the defense, there are serious questions as to the reliability of the blood alcohol test generated by the New York State Police laboratory,” the pathologist wrote in his affidavit in support of the defense.
Despite the possibility of a serious miscarriage of justice and the availability of another, unspoiled blood sample, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office opposes the defense motion.
The Hoosick Falls man has pled not guilty and is currently free on bail until his trial, which has reportedly been scheduled for March 4.