Motor Vehicles – OWI — blood draws

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Criminal

Motor Vehicles – OWI — blood draws

Douglas Bethke appeals from his convictions for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and with a prohibited alcohol concentration. Bethke claims that there is no evidence that a “medical technologist” or a “person acting under the direction of a physician,” per Wis. Stat. § 343.305(5)(b), performed the blood draw that helped establish he was driving while impaired by a prohibited blood alcohol level. Bethke also claims that the circuit court erred in excluding evidence of lab errors by the state lab that happened years before Bethke’s blood sample was tested.

The record shows that the person who drew Bethke’s blood was a “medical technologist.” And the circuit court did not erroneously exercise its discretion, nor violate Bethke’s constitutional rights, when it excluded evidence of particular lab errors that happened years before Bethke’s blood sample was analyzed. We affirm. This opinion will not be published.

2013AP2297 County of Fond du Lac v. Bethke

Dist II, Fond du Lac County, Grimm, J., Brown, C.J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Cohen, Barry S., Elkhart Lake; For Respondent: Leusink, Matthew R., Fond du Lac