Disturbing case out of Texas.
Father and Mother have Daughter. Father seeks shared custody of Daughter.
Family Court appoints Forensic Drug Testers (not the actual name) to perform a random drug test on Father.
Based on the test results, Father is characterized as and treated as though an alcohol and drug user.
The Family Court orders random weekly drug and alcohol testing on Father, and also orders Father to install a breathalyzer in Father’s car for a year.
The substance abuse issues and conditions deprive Father of shared custody of his Daughter.
Yet further drug testing by a different forensic testing service are uniformly negative.
Upon further investigation, it turns out that the court-appointed drug testing outfit is operated by someone who is not a toxicologist, did not graduate from college and is not actually a forensics expert.
Father sues the Forensic Drug Testers and the lab they work with.
Upon pretrial motion, the trial court dismisses the case against the testing companies on the grounds that they are protected from lawsuits by judicial immunity due to the court’s appointment … and that they merely administered the tests rather than interpreted the results.
The court-appointed alleged expert reportedly gave expert testimony in hundreds of cases, if not more.
It is difficult to imagine how his alleged lack of credentials never came to light.
Read more in
- this Courthouse News Service article: Drug Expert Vaults Challenge to His Creds and
- this Cato Institute National Police Misconduct Reporting Project website article: Court’s Expert Now Called an ‘Imposter’ .
