KENT, Wash. – A driver accused of killing two Federal Way teens got out of a previous DUI charge when breathalyzer tests were tossed out of court. Now, prosecutors want those tests back to keep more drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.
In 2008, breathalyzer results were thrown out when it was discovered the state's crime lab machines weren't calibrated correctly and there was sloppy oversight. Since then, thousands of cases every year have been affected. Currently, state troopers can give you a breath test if they suspect you are drunk, but the results can't be used in court.
Now, prosecutors say the lab has changed leadership and improved quality control.
"We don't think the issues that caused suppression in 2008, two years ago, still exists at the toxicology lab," said Maggie Nave, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney.
Prosecutors argued before a three-judge panel Monday that breath tests should be reinstated. They are using nine cases to challenge that ruling which, they say, handcuffs them.
"Obviously we like to have the breath test in a case. It's is a very good and strong piece of evidence," said Nave.
In June, prosecutors say Alexander Peder rear-ended a car on Interstate 5 at Southcenter, killing 18-year-olds Derek King and Nick Hodgins.
"He killed my son Nicholas," Mary Bobbitt says of the suspected drunk driver who is charged with killing her son Nicholas Hodgins along I-5 in Tukwila in June.
The death came just a few days before Nicholas's graduation from Decatur High School in Federal Way.
It turns out, the suspected drunk driver, Alexander Peder, had been arrested for drunk driving two times before. In a 2007 case, a judge threw out Peder's breath test so prosecutors accepted a lower plea for reckless endangerment.
Bobbitt wonders if her son would be alive today if Peder would have been convicted of the more serious charge.
"If Mr. Peder had been convicted of a DUI, he would not have been out drinking and driving and killing our son."
The judges could issue a ruling as early as next week. Regardless, Bobbitt has a message for those thinking about drinking and driving.
"You may think the worst thing that can happen to you is that you get arrested for a DUI, but you could kill someone. Just don't do it," she said.
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