by TChris

It isn't unusual for scientists employed by a government crime lab to make mistakes. It is unusual for a government scientist's problematic credibility to "tip the scales" in favor of a judge's decision to dismiss a prosecution.

Phillip Rawl has been tried twice on charges of vehicular homicide, based on a blood analysis showing that his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit after an accident that killed his passenger. Neither jury could reach a unanimous verdict. Before the third trial started, Rawl's attorney, David Kaloyanides, asked the judge to dismiss the charge because the prosecutor failed to disclose evidence that the crime lab chemist who tested the blood, Jeff Lowe, had been mistaken at least 27 times while performing a task as simple as weighing drugs.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus agreed that the district attorney's office should have disclosed the evidence, and cited the failure as a factor that "tipped the scales" in favor of dismissal. The judge added that there was no reason to believe a third jury would convict after the first two hung.