If convicted, the legislator could face a 93-day jail sentence.

Genetski, the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, was pulled over by MSU police Jan. 19 on Michigan Avenue near Beal Street for speeding and having an expired license plate.

Under suspicion he had been drinking, police gave him a sobriety test, and after being denied the ability to give Genetski a Breathalyzer test during the stop, the politician was arrested, spending several hours in the Ingham County Jail.

Although Monday’s session primarily involved examination of the blood alcohol content tests conducted by the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, Tuesday’s trial only briefly reexamined the numbers of the tests when Geoffrey French, supervisor of the lab’s toxicology unit, was brought to the stand to explain and clarify the testing procedures for the jury.

After the questioning, both attorneys delivered closing statements. Nichols argued the possibility that the tests could have been contaminated and Genetski could have been impaired by some other means when he was taking his sobriety test during the early morning hours of Jan. 19.

“This is not us proving something — this is whether or not you can rely on the government’s evidence in this particular case of facts,” Nichols told the jury in his closing statement. “Proof beyond reasonable doubt is required before you change this man’s life forever.”

But in Church’s final statement, he criticized Nichol’s statement, explaining to the jury that when a law is broken, it is the responsibility of the government, the police and the jury to enforce proper charges.

“Mr. Nichols appealed to your emotion that this would create some sort of a stain on Mr. Genetski that happens anytime a person comes before a jury, but the instruction says you can’t allow sympathy to affect your verdict,” Church said.

Check statenews.com and tomorrow’s print edition of The State News for more on this story.