Genetski, who also serves as the chairman for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, sat through a lengthy day of witness questioning Monday, with more to come Tuesday morning.

Whether or not Genetski is charged with operating while intoxicated could all come down to the jury’s faith in the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Laboratory and its reasonable doubt that some other factor impaired Genetski’s ability to pass a sobriety test.

In East Lansing’s 54-B District Court, most witnesses commented on the procedures of the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Laboratory’s ability to test Genetski’s blood alcohol content, or BAC.

Genetski was pulled over by MSU police on Michigan Avenue near Beal Street for speeding and having expired plates during the early morning hours of Jan. 19. He spent several hours in the Ingham County Jail.

Genetski completed a sobriety test and failed, then refused to take a Breathalyzer test. He was taken to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, where his blood was obtained and sent to the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Laboratory.

Genetski admitted Monday morning through signing a waiver that he refused to take a Breathalyzer test prior to his arrest.

The legislator’s BAC was .088 in two tests by the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, according to evidence presented in court Monday. Michigan’s legal BAC limit is .08.

Genetski’s attorney Mike Nichols — an East Lansing-based attorney who specializes in drunken driving cases — is hoping to show the six jurors that Genetski’s blood was contaminated with extra alcohol in the lab. Nichols cited a positive test of a clean vial of blood used as a control group in the police lab.

A clean vial used during the same round of testing showed ethanol alcohol levels of under .001, which could be from contamination from instrumental carryover, multiple witnesses testified.

Geoffrey French, supervisor of the lab’s toxicology unit, said this kind of contamination is not out of the ordinary and would not have significantly affected the results.

“I am very, very comfortable with the amount of resulted uncertainty that was calculated for alcohol in this case,” French said.

Nichols brought in multiple witnesses who were critical of the lab’s practices of testing BAC levels.
Janine Arvizu, the defense’s expert on forensics labs, described ways in which blood samples can be contaminated between when they are taken and when they are tested by labs.

“There must have been carryover (of alcohol from another test); it can occur during sample preparation,” Arvizu said.

Although there was back-and-forth banter about the validity of the lab tests of Genetski’s blood, Nichols said he still is not sure how the case will play out.

“That’s the hardest part, you never know; you just lay your strategy out and try to pull the trigger at the right second and hope that you did,” Nichols said after Monday’s trial session.

The trial will reconvene 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Genetski could face 93 days in jail if found guilty.

Check statenews.com for updates on this story throughout the day Tuesday.