Judge wants lab to explain delay in DUI test results

John D. Slattery found himself back behind bars this summer, facing his seventh drunken driving arrest.

The 41-year-old Aurora man had refused to submit to sobriety tests, police said, prompting them to secure a search warrant to have his blood drawn.

Nearly seven months later, as Slattery sits in jail on a $200,000 bond, authorities still are waiting for those crime lab results.

Citing a recurring theme, a frustrated DuPage County judge Monday ordered Scott Jensen, the Illinois State Police crime lab director, to appear in court Jan. 21 to explain the delay.

"It shouldn't take this long to get test results," said Judge John Kinsella, who referred to the state of state government as "dysfunctional."

"It's creating a logjam in the processing of these cases," he said. "I just want to get a handle on what's going on."

Lt. Luis Gutierrez of the Illinois State Police said the turnaround for toxicology tests is 75 days, but acknowledged a backlog of 1,230 cases as of Dec. 31. He attributed it to an increase in cases, rather than the state financial crisis. Gutierrez said three new state scientists were hired in June to handle the increase, but their training won't be complete until late this year.

"We try to work with our state attorneys' offices to let them know if we're running late," Gutierrez said. "We've had court subpoenas before and will cooperate. It's not unusual for that to happen."

A few years ago, an increase in federal grants and other resources helped reduce a staggering backlog across the nation in analyzing DNA evidence for rapes and other violent crimes.

More recently, though, some Illinois law enforcement officials are reporting a new problem with blood evidence, or toxicology, in DUIs and drug cases.

Attorney Donald Ramsell, whose Wheaton defense firm handles up to 600 DUI cases annually, said the backlog is closer to four months.

If the problem continues, he said the delay may force prosecutors to drop charges because criminal defendants have a right to trial within 120 days. So far, defense attorneys have not pushed the issue.

"Technically, there's people in jail that could arguably walk out tomorrow," Ramsell said. "There is that threat."

Beside the speedy trial and jail-clogging issues, secretary of state officials also need toxicology results to determine license suspensions.

Tests on DNA, toxicology, firearms, latent prints and tool marks routinely are conducted in private, county and state crime labs. But, in Illinois, only the state police has the authority to test blood in criminal cases.

That testing occurs at two facilities in Springfield and west suburban Westchester. Jensen heads the latter.

Slattery was arrested June 19 on Aurora's far east side after a police officer pulled over the motorist's 1994 Chevy Blazer for alleged erratic driving.

Slattery most post 10 percent of a $200,000 bond to be released from jail. He faces six to 30 years in prison if found guilty because state law calls for stiffer penalties for a sixth or subsequent DUI conviction. He has pleaded innocent.