DUI CASES MAY BE REOPENED; JUDGE ALLOWS CHANCE TO CHANGE GUILTY PLEA.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Superior Court Judge Steven Perren said Friday that some 40 DUI defendants affected by last year's problems at the sheriff's crime lab deserve to have their cases reviewed and possibly reopened.

Prosecutors vigorously opposed letting any of the defendants, who had previously pleaded guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, withdraw their pleas and take their cases to trial.

But Deputy Public Defender Steve Lipson said it was likely the defendants never would have pleaded guilty - some within days of their arrests - had they known of the turmoil in the lab's alcohol-testing unit, which started in November 1996 but did not become public until April 1997.

Perren said he personally would review each of the contested cases over the next few weeks to determine whether the conviction should stand or whether the case should be returned to Municipal Court for trial.

``The thing that goes to my gut is systemic integrity and I strongly believe in that,'' Perren told the attorneys during a two-hour hearing. ``If we're going to hold people to a high standard, then the (prosecution) should be held to a high standard, too.''

Last October, Perren denied a motion to dismiss 600 DUI cases on grounds the lab had engaged in sloppy and unlicensed alcohol testing and allegations that prosecutors tried to conceal that fact.

But the judge said individual defendants could still challenge lab practices and test results on a case-by-case basis. There are now about 40 defendants who might want to do just that, although they already have pleaded guilty and must first be allowed to withdraw their plea.

Friday's hearing ostensibly was to decide whether one defendant, Daniel Gonzalez of Garden Grove, can withdraw his plea to a February 1997 drunk driving arrest.

But in larger terms, Perren plans to use the Gonzalez case - and arguments made at Friday's hearing - to formulate standards by which other cases will be reviewed.

In effect, the judge said he will read a suspect's police report and then speculate whether a reasonable person - given information about the lab's problems in testing blood, urine and breath samples - would have pleaded guilty.

Lipson said defense attorneys spent weeks combing through hundreds of DUI cases to weed out those in which there was obvious signs of drunk driving, such as a very high blood-alcohol level.

He said all of the cases now before Perren rely on crime lab tests showing alcohol levels just slightly above the .08 limit and are thus open to challenge.

``If I had Mr. Gonzalez in arraignment court now, knowing what I know about the crime lab, I would not tell him to plead guilty,'' Lipson said.