Legal Question in DUI Law in Wisconsin

OWI DUI Blood Evidence Collection and Preservation

Your friend needs to immediately go over this information with his attorney, who is hopefully experienced in pretrial motions and jury trials. If a chain of custody is sufficiently tainted, it is possible sometimes to get the evidence suppressed; but this is difficult since there is no constitutional violation here requiring exclusion, such as an unlawful arrest without probable cause. More likely is that the judge might allow a test with a shaky chain of custody into evidence, but deny the government a pattern jury instruction entitling the test to a presumption of accuracy (which it would normally get). The defense lawyer would additionally always have the right to comment upon and argue any procedural irregularities to the jury as an argument that the case against your friend has not been proven beyond any reasonable doubt. Therefore, this is an important piece of information which your friend's lawyer might find helpful. The officer might also have an explanation making what you saw irrelevant, i.e., that the first vials were from a different case, and your friend's vials were in fact in the sealed case, etc. These comments are not intended as legal advice; or to create any attorney client relationship between us.