Urine test kits issued by a state-run forensic lab in Santa Rosa were discovered to have been faulty, leading to potential false positives for alcohol intoxication in a small percentage of Sonoma County cases over nine years, and it’s unclear whether other counties were affected.
As the Chronicle reports, prosecutors announced this week that some criminal cases in Sonoma County may have relied on defective urine tests used to measure alcohol intoxication between 2016 and 2025. It’s unclear whether the faulty kits were used in other California counties.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Staebell told the Chronicle that a state-run lab in Santa Rosa, the Bureau of Forensic Services, provided a list of 14 tests that were conducted using defective kits from supplier Andwin Scientific, though five were tied to investigations that did not result in charges. Most of the nine convictions using the faulty tests were primarily DUI cases. Per the Chronicle, prosecutors said they notified defense attorneys this week after identifying the affected convictions…