SCIENTIST SAYS CRIME LAB WOES LED TO MISLABELING ERROR.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

The top scientist in the alcohol unit of the sheriff's crime lab claims she failed to properly label 18 urine test results from suspected drunk drivers because she was distracted by the lab's spate of problems over the past few months.

Dea Boehme says she failed to add the word ``void'' to a computerized description of the 18 urine test results sent to the District Attorney's Office for use in prosecuting the drunk driving cases, according to a memo by District Attorney Investigator Michael McKendry.

McKendry interviewed Boehme on Nov. 7 and summarized the conversation in a memo Wednesday.

``This occurred because she was so busy with crime lab hearing issues and getting the lab rolling again she forgot to input any information into the comments section of the lab computer,'' the memo said.

Defense attorney Robert Huber said he was not surprised at the latest revelation out of the sheriff's crime lab.

``It just typifies what we've been dealing with in this crime lab all along,'' said Huber, who helped lead a defense challenge to more than 600 drunk driving cases because of alleged sloppy or unlicensed alcohol testing. ``What else is lurking in the crime lab that hasn't been revealed yet?''

The first urine sample taken after a suspect is arrested is considered void because it is an unreliable indicator of the actual amount of alcohol in a person's system, officials say.

Police and prosecutors instead use a second urine sample taken 20 minutes later and save the void sample as a backup.

According to McKendry's memo, 17 of the 18 cases are under review by the District Attorney's Office. One case was dismissed earlier this week.

Deputy District Attorney John Cardoza, who supervises drunk driving prosecutions, did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

Huber said he wants to know why Boehme's mistakes were not revealed to defense attorneys until after Sheriff Larry Carpenter announced this past week a sweeping overhaul of the lab's alcohol unit to restore public confidence in it.

But sheriff's Capt. Keith Parks, speaking on behalf of lab officials, said Boehme's mistakes were a key factor in Carpenter's decision to scrutinize the lab's alcohol unit over the next month or two.

The ``clerical errors'' by Boehme are ``what we're looking for,'' Parks said. ``This is what we're doing in this review process.''

Parks said he doubts these errors will have any adverse effect on the 17 cases, all but four of which already have resulted in guilty pleas to charges of drunk driving or driving under the influence of drugs.

This is because the mislabeled ``void'' samples were not the primary evidence used by prosecutors, Parks said. Instead, most of these defendants also provided a breath alcohol sample that was the key piece of evidence.