As a Boston courthouse held its first special session for drug cases tainted by the involvement of chemist Annie Dookhan, Mayor Thomas M. Menino sought $15 million from the Patrick administration to handle the potential release of hundreds of inmates.
An estimated 600 prisoners in Suffolk County, many with extensive criminal histories, could have their convictions tossed out because of suspected evidence tampering at a state drug testing laboratory by Dookhan, prosecutors say.
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No, no, no! Where did the $15 million number come from? Grabbing it out of the air? Much of this is scare mongering. If we find out we need more money, we ask for it then -- not some large arbitrary advance amount.
Agreed, this is Mumbles asking for a slush fund. Sadly, the cost of this debacle may come to something on that order, though. Assume 5000 cases and relawyering up is $1k per case. That gets you to $5 million and it will undoubtedly be more. However, just handing over this much cash to Menino on the basis of a couple of weeks of behind the scenes accounting and without tight strings is reminiscent of the days when Billy Boy and Finneran regarded the state budget as their piggy bank.
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good luck with that mumbles, the state is short 95 million, tax revenues aren't as good as they projected.