WASHINGTON (AP) - City officials say the D.C. medical examiner's office has lost its national accreditation because the agency's chief doesn't have board certification.

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D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson tells the Washington Examiner that the development could make the prosecution of criminal cases more difficult and he says it could keep the agency from moving into the city's new $220 million forensics lab that is set to open next year.

The office is responsible for conducting autopsies in homicide and also does urine analysis in suspected driving cases, a task made more important because the D.C. attorney general's office has had to drop a number of drunken driving cases because of problems with the police department's breathalyzers.

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Information from: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com