Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
Subpones to testify for the state
i received a subponea to appear as a witness for the state for what i believe was a blood-draw i performed in my job as a nurse on a suspected drunk driver. is there any way that my testimony could jeopardize my nursing license? or would poor testimony or omissions on my chart merely cause the state to lose (or harm) their case?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Subpones to testify for the state
As long as you did your work correctly there should be nothing to worry about. The subpoena should indicate who is being prosecuted, and I presume it is not you.
If the prosecution needs to prove that the driver was drunk, it is not enough for them to show blood test results to the jury. They need the technician who performed the tests to explain how they were done and how he obtained the blood, and they need you to testify that you took a sample of the defendant's blood and to explain how you transferred it to the lab. If there were any intermediaries between you and the lab, they will also be called to testify.
The prosecution needs to establish what is called the "chain of custody" in order to show the jury that the blood which was tested actually came from the defendant. This is a routine matter in criminal cases and your testimony will probably take less than fifteen minutes.
I'm not familliar with the requirements for a nursing license, but as long as you did your job properly and testify truthfully, I can't imagine why your license would be jeopardized. If your testimony doesn't help the state prove where the blood came from then the prosecutor will lose that part of the case, but the only other reason I can see why you might get into trouble would be if you deliberately undermined their case.