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Staff writer

Human error caused the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office tri-county crime lab to report inflated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels in 111 driving while impaired (DWI) cases.

The new crime lab began analyzing urine samples in DWI cases Jan. 1 for Anoka, Sherburne and Wright counties, according to Anoka County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Paul Sommer.

The error was mathematical. According to Sommer, lab scientists are supposed to multiply the end result by 0.67 to determine the grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine. The multiplication was not done, so the end result reported the grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of urine.

“The science was not bad. Nothing was tainted. It was a human error,” Sommer said.

According to defense attorney Michael Brandt, who is based out of Anoka, this error meant his client was originally reported to have a 0.21 BAC, but the real BAC was 0.14.

Brandt said the error was revealed during the evidence discovery process after his client was charged with the 0.21 BAC, which carries a higher degree level charge than 0.14.

Brandt is concerned that “the ship has sailed” for people who have already served time in jail, paid fines or had to pay to get their driver’s license reinstated because of these human errors.

When a driver goes through a field sobriety test, they blow into a Breathalyzer. This is a tool that gives deputies at the traffic stop more information to determine if an arrest is warranted. An arrested driver has to take either a blood or urine test to get more accurate readings for court proceedings.

Sommer said the reporting error only impacted the urine samples. It did not affect blood tests.

When determining the charge level, Minnesota DWI law considers other aggravating factors besides how much alcohol was in somebody’s system.

According to Sommer, there needs to be two aggravating factors to bump up a charge. Having a BAC of 0.20 is one aggravating factor. Other aggravating factors include prior DWI convictions within the last 10 years or having a child under 16 years old in the vehicle. A commercial vehicle driver arrested for DWI already has one aggravating factor against him or her.

Due to the complexity of Minnesota DWI law, Sommer said it has not been determined how the fines and sentences would have changed for these 111 people had the mathematical error not been made.

The sheriff’s office has the responsibility to report the 111 errors to the three county prosecuting offices and city attorneys who prosecuted these cases, according to Sommer.

The prosecutors would then need to notify all the defense attorneys and both sides would have to determine how to proceed.

The most urgent issue for Brandt’s client is correcting the driver’s license revocation timeline. His client had no prior DWIs and had no children in the vehicle.

Brandt said the Minnesota Department of Public Safety revoked his client’s license for 180 days because the erroneous reported stated the client’s BAC was over 0.20. The revocation period should have been 90 days.

In addition, Brandt’s client should have only had to wait 15 days instead of 30 days to apply for a special driving permit to allow him to get to work during the revocation period. His plates should not have been impounded.

If Brandt’s client had been charged with third-degree DWI for having a 0.21 BAC, his bail would have been $12,000. With a BAC of 0.14, there would be no bail required, according to Brandt.

Sommer reported that once the errors were spotted, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) inspected the crime lab operations and confirmed there was no problem with the analysis or with tainted material and that the mistakes were mathematical.

The BCA used to analyze this evidence before these three counties partnered to operate the tri-county crime lab at the new Anoka County Sheriff’s Office in Andover.



Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it