For nearly a decade, California law enforcement agencies relied on flawed urine test kits that may have produced false or inflated alcohol readings in driving under the influence (DUI) and other criminal cases — and authorities say an untold number of convictions could now be in question.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the California Department of Justice alerted roughly 60 law enforcement agencies and seven district attorney’s offices this week that cases in their jurisdictions may have been affected by the faulty tests. The problem traces back to Andwin Scientific, a medical supply company based in Simi Valley, in Ventura County, which supplied urinalysis test kits to the state’s forensic lab in Santa Rosa beginning around 2016.
Katina Repp, director of the state’s lab in Santa Rosa, explained the flaw in a January 28 letter to the Sonoma County district attorney’s office. The test kits contained far less sodium fluoride than their labels indicated — about 100 milligrams instead of the 750 milligrams listed. Sodium fluoride is a preservative that stops urine samples from fermenting. Without enough of it, samples containing high levels of sugar or yeast could have fermented and generated alcohol on their own, potentially skewing test results…