Toxicology Lab: Above suspicion

Fighting drunken driving is a hard enough battle as it is because of the nature of the issue itself, of just how an intoxicated person ends up driving. Some merely miscalculate the effect the last drink would have while others are alcoholics and repeat offenders. Dealing with the problem effectively, in part, requires that those who break the law and endanger their lives as well as the lives of others feel the full weight of the law. Sad to say, that isn't the case in King County, because the State Patrol's toxicology lab has been deemed unreliable.

Because of a maddening set of circumstances, which include "ethical problems, scientific errors and carelessness," three District Court judges tossed out the results of DUI tests processed in the lab, saying they couldn't be used in court. What else could they do, when "literally thousands of breath tests performed in recent years were affected through a multiplicity of errors in the toxicology lab"? That means that some drunken drivers will skate (others already have) and that there's a chance that innocent people were punished. No justice system can operate on faulty evidence.

The state's toxicology work needs to be credible and above such suspicions, and, as it stands, the man heading the lab, state toxicologist Barry Logan, is in the hot seat. Whatever problems exist in the lab (staffing issues, weak protocols, etc.), if he can't make the needed changes, Logan needs to be replaced by someone who can.