EX-LAB OFFICIAL BLASTS TESTING.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

The sheriff's crime lab overstated the alcohol levels in 80 percent of drunk driving suspects whose tests between November 1996 and March 1997 were later reanalyzed by another lab, a former lab official testified Monday.

Norm Fort, who retired as the lab's forensic alcohol supervisor last November, said the inflated results in 274 tests likely were caused by poor maintenance and incompetent use of the testing machines, called gas chromatographs.

``I believe that the operation, and as importantly, the maintenance of the gas chromatographs at that time contributed to these problems,'' Fort said.

The blood and urine tests were performed by lab technician Vincent Vitale, who failed a state proficiency test in February, leading regulators to inspect the lab and discover numerous code violations.

Questions about the accuracy of Vitale's tests and lab officials' decision in March to ignore a state order to cease breath alcohol testing have fueled a defense effort to have about 600 drunk driving cases thrown out of court.

The monthlong hearings into the lab's problems are expected to wrap up Wednesday with Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren hearing final arguments on the issue.

Fort testified that he had previously seen Vitale botch forensic alcohol tests, most notably by mixing up some samples during a blood test several years ago, shortly after Vitale was hired at the lab.

Referring to the test involving mixed-up samples, Fort said he realized he either would have to personally monitor Vitale's work or do the alcohol testing himself - so he choose to do the latter.

Vitale was assigned to other lab duties for more than three years before being pressed into duty as an alcohol analyst after Fort's unexpected retirement Nov. 16, said Deputy Public Defender Brian Vogel.

Based on Vitale's failed proficiency test, the state Department of Health Services ordered the Ventura County Sheriff's Department crime lab to cease all alcohol testing March 19.

Blood and urine samples were subsequently sent to a state Department of Justice lab in Santa Barbara and a private lab in Rancho Cucamonga, Vogel said. The labs also reanalyzed 274 of Vitale's tests, which are believed to be the majority of tests done during that time period.

According to the retesting, Vitale's accuracy problems got progressively worse between Nov. 20 and March 13.

Fort testified that on average 80 percent of the crime lab's test results in that four-month period were overstated.

Thirty-five percent of those tests were inflated by .01 percent, while 26 percent of the tests were inflated by .02 percent, he said. The legal limit to drive in California is .08 percent alcohol level.

Eight percent of the tests were inflated by .04 percent or more, Fort said.

Vitale's results proved correct in 14 percent of cases, and 5 percent of his tests actually understated the amount of alcohol in a suspect, he said.