Chattanooga criminal defense attorney Jerry Summers discovered a major problem with a blood alcohol test in a vehicular homicide case he was handing Mr.. Summers requested an independent sample of his clients blood. The independent test came back completely different than what the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) analyst Kyle Bayer reported. The case against Mr. Summers’ client was dismissed and an investigation ensued.
From reports , it appears Mr.Bayer switched two tubes of blood.
"All indications are that this was an isolated incident by an examiner who, despite extensive training, switched two adjacent blood samples at the onset of the analysis process and then failed to follow a number of procedural checkpoints which would have caught the error," writes Robert Daniel Royse, assistant director of TBI, in a letter dated Tuesday and obtained by the Times Free Press.
Mr. Bayer was later fired from the TBI. My question is if it is a one time mistake why was he fired ? I think there might be a little more to the story. The big question is how will this affect your DUI case. Kyle Bayer performed over 3200 blood alcohol tests. All of his tests are being send to an independent lab for retesting. it is anticipated that it will take until February of next year fro the tests to be complete. It is likelihood all pending cases will be delayed.
The possible defenses to these cases may be a break in the chain of custody. Rule 901 of the Tennessee Rules of Evidence provides a requirement for authentication as a condition precedent before the evidence is admissible. Meaning that Mr. Bayer might have to come to court and testify in order to maintain the chain of custody. One alternative is that the state might decide to prosecute the cases without the blood alcohol evidence. One thing is for sure . We can no longer accept the lab reports without a through examination.