State drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan labeled the vials as containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. But when another chemist ran the vials through a machine to confirm Dookhan’s analysis, one had little THC, and another was mixed with morphine and codeine.
The second chemist sent the vials back to Dookhan to resolve the discrepancies, asking her to repeat the screening test the lab used to tentatively identify the drugs in an evidence bag. When she resubmitted them, the machine showed the vials contained pure THC.
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Ultimately, the Governor's Administration failed to oversee this process. Before we blame it all on the chemist, where were her supervisors? The problem here goes well beyond Dookhan.
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I would be interested to know how many of her supervisors were political hacks who have no business managing such a Lab. I'd bet good money that someone's relative was hired after an exhaustive "nationwide search".
I want to know how many innocent people are sitting in prison because of her and the lab and how many people lost jobs, scholarships or even children because of this. She should get a life sentence in jail.
I want to know who interviewed and hired her and what is the due diligence that goes into that process.
Per the article, "Alec Loftus, a Patrick administration spokesman, declined a request for a copy of the lab’s policy and procedures manual, saying it was protected as part of the criminal investigation of the lab by State Police and Attorney General Martha Coakley." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Clearly this is a bogus excuse, and is obviously being withheld because the administration suspeccts (or knows) that it is substandard.
Workman would like to see cameras added to crime labs to record screening tests, with footage available on the Internet to prosecutors and defense lawyers to help ensure that proper procedures are followed.
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That sounds like a good idea. Another possibility would be to double-blind the resting and results, such that the test samples are assigned numbers and their connections to specific cases is known only to some office outsides the lab, and then two tests are done of each sample with the testers also not knowing that one sample relates to the other. The results on both test annonomous tests would be connected to the case only outside the lab and the results would have to be identical.
Or, perhaps, if the tests are done once in the lab and then done outside the lab annonmously and if they don't match then they are done again by a third party again outside the lab, and if the third test matches one of the other two then the person with the results that did not match is simply prosecuted and sent to jail for a time to help them better focus their minds on testing accurately in the future.
So, tell me, philosophically speaking, who is the bigger sinner, the one who uses drugs (perhaps for enjoyment, or self-medication as a way to deal with life) or the parties that sell those drugs to the users, or the government that convicts innocent people and destroys them, and their families, parents, and children, because, well, they just didn't care that much...