Legal Question in DUI Law in Minnesota

Re: urine test for blood alcohol

A urine test for alcohol cannot test for blood alcohol, only a blood test can do that. In Minnesota, urine alcohol level can be evidence of a crime (i.e. DWI). Many states have outlawed urine tests for this purpose, due to the many problems of inaccuracy inherent in these "tests," for example, the problem of "urine pooling." Minnesota does not require a proper urine sample collection protocol which can reduce the urine pooling" problem (voiding prior to providing sample).

Urine normally contains sugars which can and do ferment into alcohol. Fermentation would render any attempt to quantify alcohol level in a person pointlessly inaccurate. That is why urine sample collection kits normally include a container with preservative chemicals in it, to attempt to prevent this. Things can and sometimes do go wrong with the preservative, as well as events along the "chain of custody," and in the lab where the sample is analyzed. In addition, the state of Minnesota has a practice of destroying potentially exculpatory urine samples after a relatiely short period of time, before the defense can have it analyzed by an independent lab, to potentially prove the innocent person's innocence.

Make sure your current address is on your drivers license. When you get a notice from the state, be sure to serve and file a "Petition for Judicial Review" within 30 days. It's best to get a lawyer to help you with this quickly.

Re: urine test for blood alcohol

I am afraid that it is not unusual for a urine or blood test to take a month or more to be tested. There is no real shelf life over a period of months since the sample's recepticle contained chemicals to prevent degrading of the sample.

There are always questions that can be raised as to how the sample may have been taken, stored or the chain of custody that must occur for testing. Thiese are always viable challenges to a criminal charge.

For a consultation call 612.240.8005 or visit online at criminal-law.tv.

Re: urine test for blood alcohol

The urine sample is placed into a bottle that has a preservative. The sample is shipped to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a laboratory in St. Paul. It is stored in a refrigerator until it is analyzed. I do not know the shelf life, but I know it certainly exceeds six weeks.

Right now, there is about a six week turn around from when the sample is taken to when the results are sent to the driver.

If you failed the test, you will be hearing from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety soon. If you passed the test, you will hear nothing.

If the driver's license address is not your current address, you won't hear anything, either, because the notice I sent to the DL address and is not forwarded to your new address by the postal service. Herb Kroon