We offer these links to assist citizens and counsel proceeding in the Chester County criminal justice system. They are organized by category, as reflected below. Feel free to use the resources identified here, but please understand that we are not providing legal advice here. The use or submission of any application or form available here should be assisted by counsel, and should not be filed without consulting with counsel.
Chester County Forms and Applications
Chester County ARD Application must be filed at the Preliminary Hearing. Filing instructions are included in the packet.
Chester County Intermediate Punishment Program - the electronic home monitoring program in Chester County.
IPP Application - General (October 10, 2006)
IPP Application- Section 1543(b) (Driving Under Suspension)
Drug Court Application must be coordinated with the Chester County Bail Agency. Filing instructions are included in the packet.
Recovery Court Application must be coordinated with the Chester County Adult Probation Department
State Intermediate Punishment program for drug and alcohol cases likely to receive state sentences
Pennsylvania DUI Law - Inactive Marijuana Metabolites
Memorandum on blood testing requirements & Constitutionality of DUI Marijuana Metabolite rules
Constitutionality of the Metabolite Rule Opinion in Commonwealth v. Etchison, 2007 PA Super 26, *; 916 A.2d 1169, Appeal granted by, in part, Appeal denied by, in part: 2007 Pa. LEXIS 2343 (Pa. Oct. 26, 2007) (the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED, LIMITED TO the issue set forth below: (1) Whether sub-section (d)(1) of the D.U.I. statute (75 Pa.C.S. § 3802) is unconstitutionally overbroad and thus violative of the right to due process?
DUI Blood Testing in Pennsylvania Blood testing and "minimum detectable limits."
Minimum Levels of Controlled Substances or Metabolites under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(c)(4)
Testimony of Dr. Jeffrey Shoemaker, the Director of the Division of Chemistry and Toxicology in the Department of Health's Bureau of Laboratories, authenticating and explaining the "minimum detectable limits" Notice
Marijuana Metabolites A primer on the toxicology of marijuana. Baselt, The Disposition of Toxic Drugs in Man
Department of Health Alcohol and Drug Proficiency Testing Rules For DUI Cases
Proficiency Testing for Laboratories Performing Analyses of Blood for Alcohol Content
Proficiency Testing for Laboratories Performing Analyses of Blood for Drugs
Right To Know Law requests to the Bureau of Laboratories Sample request - customize for the Laboratory performing tests in your case.
Department of Health RTKL Response on Proficiency Testing:
The Bureau [of Laboratories] also has a paper record of each laboratory's proficiency testing results over the last two years. These records are not available electronically. You may make arrangements with Dr. Shoemaker to review them. If you wish to secure a copy of them, the Department will provide you with copies. The copying charges would exceed $100 [for all certified laboratories]. Pursuant to the Department's published Right-to-Know Law Policy, you would be required to prepay the copying charges before the Department would provide you with copies. If you apprise Dr. Shoemaker that you want copies of the test results for the two-year period, he will arrange for the number of pages to be counted and then apprise you of the exact charges.
Sample Proficiency Testing Report Note that the state's "proficiency" testing program requires that certified labs achieve test results within ten percent of target value at least 80% of the time, in at least every other survey. Is that sufficient accuracy on which to deprive a citizen of his or her liberty? An excerpt from the Bureau of Laboratories sample test report explains the essence of the program:
acceptable ranges are determined by calculating the target or mean value for each specimen +/- 10 mg/dL in the specimen concentration range from 0 to 100 mg/dL, the mean +/- 10% in the range from 101 to 200 mg/dL, and the mean +/- 20 mg/dL in the range above 200 mg/dL.
In accordance with the regulations (28 Pa. Code § 5.50) to the Commonwealth's Clinical Laboratory Act (35 P.S. §§2151-2165), laboratories that receive scores of less than 80% will be considered to have performed unsatisfactorily for the determination of alcohol in that specimen matrix. Surveys for the determination of alcohol in blood and serum will be graded separately. Unsatisfactory performance in determining alcohol in blood or serum in two consecutive surveys will result in revocation of approval to offer testing services for those types of specimens.