Thursday, August 18, 2016

Annie Dookhan: Massachusetts: Bulletin: Court gives American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) green light to present arguments that all of the 24,400 tainted drug lab cases involving disgraced state chemist Annie Dookhan should be dismissed..." Adriana Lafaille, lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said the court rejected the ACLU’s attempt at a “comprehensive solution” last year, but relented to hearing an argument this November after learning of the volume of cases yet to be processed. “To handle this many cases on a case-by-case basis would completely cripple the justice system in Massachusetts. CPCS (Committee for Public Counsel Services) said doing this case-by-case would be disastrous,” she said. “We think all of these cases should be dismissed.”"


"The Supreme Judicial Court will allow the ACLU to present arguments that all of the 24,400 tainted drug lab cases involving disgraced state chemist Annie Dookhan should be dismissed. Adriana Lafaille, lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said the court rejected the ACLU’s attempt at a “comprehensive solution” last year, but relented to hearing an argument this November after learning of the volume of cases yet to be processed. “To handle this many cases on a case-by-case basis would completely cripple the justice system in Massachusetts. CPCS (Committee for Public Counsel Services) said doing this case-by-case would be disastrous,” she said. “We think all of these cases should be dismissed.” The ACLU hired a data scientist to mine the records for information about Dookhan’s cases and found 62 percent of the cases were for possession, while 37 percent were for the more severe crime of possession with intent to distribute. However, she said 90 percent of the cases were handled by district court and were disposed of without an indictment. She said 7 percent of the Dookhan cases wound up in Superior Court. Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) countered that dismissing the cases is not in the interest of justice or public safety.........Dookhan — who worked at a state drug lab running evidence in criminal cases between 2004 and 2010, pleaded guilty to a 27-count indictment, that included charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering. The case has already put scores of drug defendants back on the streets. Dookhan herself processed as many as 40,000 drug samples in that time. In November 2013, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball sentenced Dookhan to three to five years at MCI-Framingham followed by two years’ probation."
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/08/court_aclu_can_try_to_get_24400_drug_cases_tossed