According to state law, “a sworn report from a law enforcement officer that the officer had reasonable grounds to believe the arrested person” was driving under the influence must accompany bloodalcohol content reports in arrest files.
Unfortunately, many documents currently in use don’t meet the standards of the law and cannot be adequately used in court.
These arrest files and blood-alcohol tests are used in both criminal hearings and license-revocation hearings, which are conducted separately. While the offenders’ license-revocation hearings have been dismissed, they still face criminal charges.
Tulsa World reports that the Department of Public Safety has known about the faults since they were brought to its attention in a 1990 case. We here at CFN have been known to procrastinate, but even we can find fault in ignoring a problem for 23 years.
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2013.