CHICAGO (WLS) — The University of Illinois Chicago has issued an internal investigation report concerning flawed lab testing, which may have compromised over 1,000 cannabis DUI cases in the Chicago metro region.
Many DUI cases were charged based on results from UIC’s Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory, which ceased human testing in February 2024.
Since the ABC7 I-Team’s reporting, more than a dozen criminal cases have been dropped.
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UIC engaged Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP to conduct an investigation and produce an independent report on the issues and allegations regarding THC measurement inaccuracies.
At issue are results that were unable to distinguish Delta-9 THC from other commonly encountered THC isomers such as Delta-8.
The lab had notified police departments and prosecutor’s offices in Illinois that there may have been problems with some results.
Criminal defense attorney Don Ramsell, who represents clients charged with cannabis DUI, told the I-Team the report is just a corporate whitewash.
“The University of Illinois engaged a law firm to defend them, and I believe, to avoid approximately 2000 potential lawsuits,” Ramsell stated.
The report concludes UIC’s Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory methods should have “been modified” to distinguish between two related forms of THC. However, it goes on to say, “Nevertheless, the reliability of those test results may be confirmed on a case-by-case basis…” something Ramsell does not believe is true.
To suggest you have completed the investigation, I think is laughable
Don Ramsell, criminal defense attorney
“Now that the labs have been closed for over a year, that means every sample is incapable of being retested, despite what some lawyer might write in a position paper,” he claims.
ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said the results of the law firm’s analysis don’t absolve UIC’s lab of wrongdoing, with a key figure at the former lab declining interviews by the investigative team.
“This was unusual, I think, though, because the report really took pains to say that although errors were made and although things were not done that should have been done. It doesn’t necessarily mean that all tests were wrong from the get go,” Soffer said.
He pointed out that a key figure at the former lab declined interviews by the investigative team.
“First, will there be a criminal penalty here? Will someone be found to have deliberately misled somebody else? Unclear from this report, it didn’t find that someone had misled, but it also doesn’t rule out that possibility, and I could see further inquiry there,” Soffer said. “The other question is, could somebody, the lab, be held liable in negligence for what happened here?”
Ramsell added that there are still many unanswered questions.
“To suggest you have completed the investigation, I think is laughable,” he said.
UIC declined to talk to the I-Team about the report, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said it will continue to review any cases that may have been affected by faulty testing.
The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the report, but it has already dismissed 19 cases involving the UIC lab testing.
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