Kobe, DNA and a Judge's Suggestion

After results from the State lab were contradicted by results from the Defense's lab tests the prosecution sent the DNA to Virginia for testing. However:

[It]was halted when state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle ordered prosecutors to explain they weren't letting a defense expert observe the tests, as the judge had ordered. Prosecutors said last week they thought the judge had made only a suggestion, not an order, and that the lab has policies against outsiders observing tests.

The question is whether the prosecution really screwed up that badly or whether it was trying to pull a fast one.