Massachusetts police chiefs, defense lawyers, and prosecutors are preparing for the fallout from evidence mishandling at a busy state drug laboratory, a scandal they say could put felons back on the streets, inundate courts, and damage public confidence in the justice system.
Law enforcement officials are grappling with revelations that Annie Dookhan, for nine years a chemist at a state drug lab, may have contaminated drug evidence, mixed samples from unrelated cases, and manipulated drugs to increase weight, thus stiffening defendants’ penalties.
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What was Annie Dookhan's motivation in these crimes? It seems like she was responding to some kind of pressure or reward (perceived/actual).
Perhaps, she was simply trying to meet the expectations of her absentee Supervisors!
Why haven't we heard from the governor yet? This is a major breach of public trust and he's out and about doing what he does best; campaigning. When can we get a givernor who wants to stay home and govern?
Oh - you must be looking for the Massachusetts MIA Gov. Deval Patrick who is much toooooooooooooo busy campaigning for Obama.
Our MIA Governor is pryaing for a job in Washington after November. Or at least an Ambassador appointment.
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Another good reason th get rid of drug crimes (other than similar to alchohol crimes). Let's tax the hell out of them,
similar to lottery etc.m and mgetn them out of criminal courtsd. And get rid of ABC!!!!!!
"Law enforcement officials are grappling with revelations that Annie Dookhan, for nine years a chemist at a state drug lab, may have contaminated drug evidence, mixed samples from unrelated cases, and manipulated drugs to increase weight, thus stiffening defendants’ penalties." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Chelsea Police relied on the Jamaica Plain lab to test drug evidence, and Dookhan’s name appears on a lot of the test results, Kyes said." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ms. Dookhan had unrestricted and unsupervised access the evidence lockers, right? If so, who can you be sure she did not also contaminate the evidence for cases she did not test (and for which her name does not appear on the test results)? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Asking (as in The Departed) "Cui Bono" -- who benefits-- might lead one to believe that Ms Dookhan was trying to create 1) a lifetime pension program for defense attorneys, 2) the end of criminal treatment for drug offenses, 3) a jobs program for public sector employees (prosecuting attorneys, judges, court support personnel). I suspect she was just in it for herself, but it's amazing what someone can accomplish when management is feckless.
Let me offer a suggestion of how it works: 1/ The state budget crisis begins and the Governor and legislature make cuts to the Public Health Department. 2/ The DPH cuts are made to the places where people will least notice, including the state's two drug testing labs. 3/Over the next couple of years, people at the DPH labs retire and their positions aren't filled. Maybe a supervisor's position goes and remains vacant. 4/ The amount of drug cases remains constant, or increases, and the number of tests the chemists are told to do increase. 5/ Most of the chemists continue to do their job honestly, but Dookhan decides she will crank it up by making up results. 6/ The Governor proposes closing the WesternMass DPH drug lab, but the legislature saves it at the last minute. Apparently the Governor, or those in charge at DPH have a clue at the caseload, and the caseload backlog (and since Dookhan is doing so many ficticious tests) the backlog looks serious, but manageable. 7/ With the backlog building, the DA's and police departments pressure the lab technicians and chemists to get their work done faster so they can get these cases to trial. They don't go to the Governor and complain, mind you, they pressure the lab and the chemists. 8/ The SJC rules that a drug test can no longer be certified, but rather the chemist that does the test must testify, which means the chemists are sitting in courthouse hallways waiting to testify, not doing testing, and the backlog gets bigger (while Dookhan keeps cranking out astronomical numbers of tests). And so it goes until the bubble bursts. 9/ Bureaucracies being what they are, the guy at the top, who started cutting budgets, gets off the hook, while a group (not including Dookhan) of hardworking, honest chemists are made to take the blame. 10/ Good for Auerbach. It takes an honorable man to fall on his sword.
I would certainly hope what Ms. Dookhan is alleged to have done is a crime. But, of course, we'd be relying on Attorney General Coakley to get an indictment. I remind readers that it has now been 10 months and 20 days since the Boston Globe reported that Mike McLaughlin, director of the Chelsea Housing Authority, was earning $374,000 and lying about it to both the state and the feds, and he's not been charged. Sometimes these things take time, right, Martha?