Date rape tests are currently performed at state crime labs and at hospitals. A BuzzFeed News study has revealed that the drug testing done in cases of date rape is unreliable. There are no current nationwide standards for:

• The types of screenings that should be used
• The range of drugs that should be tested
• The “amount of drugs in the system that should count as a positive result”

The unreliable forensic evidence has raised numerous questions about the credibility of the scientific evidence behind these tests. These irregularities mean that many test results may be suppressed in the event of a trial.

The study examined “thousands of pages of lab manuals from every state across the country.” In addition, the study conducted interviews of lawyers, toxicologists, nurse examiners, law enforcement personnel, and others.

Crime lab irregularities

Some of the complications revealed by the study include:

• Testing equipment often isn’t sensitive enough to detect drugs at low concentration levels.
• Victims of date rape may need hours or days before they recover enough to file a report.
• Some of the tests only examine the blood even though drugs stay in the urine longer than in the blood.
• Some labs can’t test for sexual assault.
• Over 100 different substances are used in date rapes. (As new synthetic drugs are made, that number is constantly increasing.)
• Some labs use a drug screening method “so notoriously fallible that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recommends that it never be used in drug-facilitated sexual assault cases — noting that “false negative results” caused by its “insufficiently sensitive methods” risk bringing investigations to a premature end.”
• Different states have different standards for determine how much of a drug constitutes a positive result. For example, New Jersey deems 10 nanograms per milliliter of opiates a positive while Florida requires 150 nanograms for a positive result.

Hospital testing is more limited

Generally, state crime lab tests are more sophisticated than those performed in hospitals. Only a small sampling of possible date rape drugs is tested by hospitals. Often, sexual assault nurse examiners aren’t available when the victim comes in to the hospital for testing. “’With so many drugs that could knock someone out,’ said Gail Cooper, who runs the lab at the medical examiner’s office in New York City, ‘what we’re looking for is really a needle in a haystack.’”

The Buzz Feed article claims that when there are no witnesses and the victim can’t remember what happened, it can hard to obtain a conviction. Positive drug results can increase the odds of a conviction but negative or unreliable results are standard defenses that experienced criminal defense lawyers assert. One San Diego district attorney said in her experience there were only a handful of positive results in more than 1,000 sexual assault cases.

If the victim doesn’t get tested at all, defense lawyers will assert that the failure to get tested is an indicator that they weren’t drugged.

At Delius & McKenzie, PLLC we assert every defense possible for our clients who are charged with crimes as serious as sexual assault and rape. To schedule a consultation with one of our experienced Sevierville criminal defense trial lawyers, please call us at (865) 428-8780 or use our contact form. We represent defendants who reside in Sevierville, Seymour, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and the surrounding Tennessee areas.