If you've been charged in Michigan with a DUI based on a blood test result, it's crucial to understand the difference between whole blood and blood serum. The MSP lab tests whole blood, while a hospital typically will test blood serum. If your blood was tested at the hospital, your BAC level could be multiplied by up to 1.6 times the amount it would be under the MSP testing method. This could be the difference between below and over the legal limit.
The hospital's method takes the whole blood sample and removes solids, which dilutes the overall sample, which brings the alcohol concentration up, and giving a higher reading on the blood alcohol content. So if your whole blood sample would have been 0.06, your serum sample could be 0.096, which takes you from under the legal limit, to over the legal limit. If the test result in your case was evaluated as serum, this must be converted to a whole blood result value. Courts around the country have ruled that using a serum result is not allowed to convict someone of a DUI offense.
If you have a blood test result over the legal limit using the serum sample, and a conversion would bring you below the legal limit, a motion to suppress must be filed in your case. If the conversion doesn't bring you under the legal limit, it's advisable to wait until trial, and point this out to the judge then, so the prosecutor won't have an expert ready to do the conversion. Since recent case law won't allow a conviction without a conversion, the prosecutor may not have admissible evidence of your blood alcohol level, and you should be acquitted.
The hospital's method takes the whole blood sample and removes solids, which dilutes the overall sample, which brings the alcohol concentration up, and giving a higher reading on the blood alcohol content. So if your whole blood sample would have been 0.06, your serum sample could be 0.096, which takes you from under the legal limit, to over the legal limit. If the test result in your case was evaluated as serum, this must be converted to a whole blood result value. Courts around the country have ruled that using a serum result is not allowed to convict someone of a DUI offense.
If you have a blood test result over the legal limit using the serum sample, and a conversion would bring you below the legal limit, a motion to suppress must be filed in your case. If the conversion doesn't bring you under the legal limit, it's advisable to wait until trial, and point this out to the judge then, so the prosecutor won't have an expert ready to do the conversion. Since recent case law won't allow a conviction without a conversion, the prosecutor may not have admissible evidence of your blood alcohol level, and you should be acquitted.
