Comments on: Indiana May Halt Crime Lab Investigation

By: PaulTheCabDriver

PaulTheCabDriver — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:39:57 +0000

Why does this surprise anyone? Most everything government does is incompetent. Why should this be any different? But this cae can be solved. The activists out there can put an initiative on the ballot calling for regular audits of the crime labs. I think it would be worth the effort.

By: Tatiana Covington

Tatiana Covington — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:37:00 +0000

Any half-way competent defense lawyer could now point to the appallingly high error rate and call for dismissal on the grounds of reasonable doubt and tainted evidence.

By: John

John — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:33:28 +0000

Nice that the default position appears to be leave the potentially innocent in jail rather than setting them free.

What ever happened to our cultural view of better 9 guilty go free over 1 innocent be punished?

By: CB

CB — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:26:39 +0000

This news, along with the recent Indiana Supreme court rulings on warrantless searches and the Indiana Supreme’s “rape doctrine,” don’t seem to support the latest Mercatus Institute’s ranking of Indiana as the 3rd most free state. Mercatus got it wrong; perhaps it meant that Indiana is 3rd in police state rankings!

http://www.theagitator.com/2011/05/13/indiana-court-you-have-no-right-to-keep-cops-out-of-your-house/

http://www.mikechurch.com/Today-s-Lead-Story/ind-supreme-cxourt-threatened-after-allowing-warrantless-searches.html

http://mercatus.org/freedom-50-states-2011

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:42:09 +0000

real scientists have studied various forms of breath alcohol measurement. the papers are out there, in respectable peer reviewed journals. (along with studies of the effects of various blood alcohol levels.)

tip: don’t blow, always have them take blood.

By: DarkEFang

DarkEFang — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:35:35 +0000

#6 Eh –

“Funny that it was called off just as they were getting to alcohol testing. DUIs are a gravy train.”

Also keep in mind that Marion County’s (Indianapolis) jail is run by CCA. They need to keep the county jail at full capacity in order to maximize profits, which means they need a steady stream of misdemeanor offenders. DUIs are a great source of first-time offenders. Once those people are in the system, they can expect to spend anywhere from 15 to 60 days in jail each year for probation violations.

By: Michael Pack

Michael Pack — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:24:05 +0000

I’d love to see some real scientists test and audit breathalizers and give the margin of error .Of course,like EH said,too much money in them tickets

By: SJE

SJE — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:57:51 +0000

How about the cost to the state of wrongful convictions, let alone justice.

By: Befuzzled

Befuzzled — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:48:13 +0000

Could we organize some kind of kickstarter funding request to pay for the audit? Or the ACLU could fund it? if there’s potentially wrongful/invalid convictions, surely there’s legal remit to force the audit?

By: EH

EH — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:39:46 +0000

Funny that it was called off just as they were getting to alcohol testing. DUIs are a gravy train.

By: Radley Balko

Radley Balko — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:19:33 +0000

Oh Radley. just because Daniels doesn’t go out of his way to proclaim his hatred for gays and Mexicans doesn’t mean he is not a standard issue Republican.

Daniels did recently veto an awful asset forfeiture bill that overwhelmingly passed both houses of the state legislature.

By: Z

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:06:49 +0000

. Gov. Daniels can still override the panel’s recommendation and continue the audit. I hope he does.

Oh Radley. just because Daniels doesn’t go out of his way to proclaim his hatred for gays and Mexicans doesn’t mean he is not a standard issue Republican.

By: FridayNext

FridayNext — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:03:27 +0000

Ironic that it was Mitch Daniels who was once busted for two shoeboxes full of pot and assorted other drugs and got off with a $350 fine. So I guess harsher penalties are for other people, even if those other people may not even have committed a crime.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:54:42 +0000

This is amazingly related to your last post! So of course I expect similar false equivocation with private companies shortly.

By: Reformed Republican

Reformed Republican — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:54:34 +0000

Since they are not going to investigate the labs, they should just throw out all of the convictions. I think you can easily argue that any conviction now has a reasonable doubt cast on it, if evidence from the crime lab was used.