Effort to keep judge's blood alcohol level out of evidence begins

Defense attorneys for Circuit Judge David Hall on Monday launched their attack on blood alcohol evidence that prosecutors say show Hall was drunk was he was arrested for DUI in 2008.

Douglas Zeit and Jason Mercure claim the blood taken from Hall at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after his arrest was so improperly handled it should be barred from use in the trial scheduled to begin next week.

Vernon Hills police arrested Hall for DUI and resisting arrest in the early morning hours of April 26, 2008 and pepper-sprayed him when they say Hall refused to get out of his car.

Hall, 57, of Waukegan, was taken to Condell after being sprayed, and a doctor there ordered blood drawn for testing after the doctor discovered Hall had an irregular heart beat.

Zeit and Mercure told Circuit Judge F. Keith Brown, a Kane County judge assigned to hear the case, they believed all information about their client's care at Condell should be barred from evidence under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

But Brown agreed with Assistant Attorney General William Elward, who argued blood test results in cases involving DUI charges are specifically exempted from coverage by HIPAA.

Condell employees were called to the stand to testify the blood was drawn from Hall in the emergency room, then sent to the laboratory for testing via a pneumatic tube system that runs through the hospital.

Lab technician Abdullah Lekuti said his records show he received three vials of blood from Hall and the vials had color-coded stoppers to indicate the type of testing to be done on blood in each vial.

The vials in evidence have one yellow, one pink and one purple stopper, although Lekuti said the pink stopper should not have been used on a vial of blood drawn in the emergency room.

Nurse Juliana Gonzalez said she put blood drawn from Hall in four vials, none of which had a pink stopper, and marked all four vials with pre-printed labels showing Hall's name and date of birth.

Elward and Assistant Attorney General Daniel Nikolic argue the number of vials and the apparent misuse of the pink stopper are irrelevant because only blood from the vial with the purple stopper was tested for alcohol content.

Prosecutors say testing, done May 15 at the Illinois State Police crime laboratory in Westchester, show Hall had a blood-alcohol content of .104 percent.