DUI Drug Recognition Protocol is Not Scientifically Reliable

On March 5, 2012, Judge Michael M. Galloway entered an order in the Circuit Court of the State of Maryland confirming what DUI defense attorneys have known all along. The D.R.E. protocol is not scientifically reliable, not accepted by the scientific community and is otherwise black magic/voodoo. Even though it needs to be mentioned that the judge stopped short of calling the DRE protocol black magic and/or voodoo.

The DRE program is a program that was devised in 1979 by the Los Angeles Police Department to assist in the prosecution of impaired driving cases. If the arresting officer doesn't believe that someone is impaired by alcohol, which can be readily, but not accurately, detected by a breath test, the officer can call for aid from a DRE. DRE stands for Drug Recognition Expert. The suspect is then taken through a 12 step evaluation by the DRE which measures blood pressure, pulse, muscle tone and other factors. After the 12 step process is complete, the DRE states his or her "expert opinion" regarding what category or what categories of drugs the individual was using at the time the person was driving.

There are many interesting pieces of information that were brought out in the hearings in front of Judge Galloway which will prove useful to an attorney defending a DRE case. Initially, the 12 step process isn't required. It is simply preferred. The DRE has the discretion as to which parts of the protocol he or she wishes to utilise and can completely disregard the others. A second interesting fact is that a DRE is not going to change their opinion even when no drugs are present in the Defendant's blood. The rational given by the State's expert was that it doesn't matter what's found or not found because there are limits on what a lab can test for.

Other testimony for the defense proved that certain drugs were improperly lumped into single categories, that the DRE material misstated the effects of certain drugs, drugs were outright misclassified and that the misinformation contained in the DRE manual renders opinions based on it specious at best.

After the hearings, the defense filed motions to exclude the evidence in the various cases that were in front of Judge Galloway. Judge Galloway issued a 37 page ruling which can be seen by clicking the link below.

DRE Ruling

For further information, please call Broward County DUI Attorney Michael Dye at (919)745-5848 or visit http://AlcoholAndDrugLaw.com.