Crime lab chemist falisifies tests resulting false convictions.

[thraashman]

Just saw this article about a Massachusetts crime lab chemist falsifying test results. She "visually identified" drug substances instead of performing tests and outright falsified other "evidence" used to convict people. In a career of almost a decade she may have affected as many as 40,000 cases. She plead guilty and received a sentence of 3-5 years for ruining countless lives. The system cannot function when those who prosecute suspects hold getting a conviction higher than getting the truth.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304607104579214280981721234

http://filmingcops.com/corrupt-gove...cking-countless-innocent-americans-in-prison/

BOSTON—A former state crime-lab chemist who falsified test results in criminal cases was sentenced to three to five years in prison Friday, in connection with a scandal that has thrown the Massachusetts criminal-justice system into turmoil.

In a soft voice, Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to 27 crimes, including tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and inflating her credentials. She worked at a Massachusetts Department of Public Health laboratory from 2003 to 2012 analyzing drugs seized during criminal arrests.

Ms. Dookhan previously pleaded not guilty but changed her plea Friday. After Judge Carol S. Ball handed down her sentence, the 36-year-old Ms. Dookhan, who didn't speak or show emotion, was led from the courtroom to begin serving her term at a state prison. Prosecutors had asked for between five and seven years of incarceration.

Ms. Dookhan's misdeeds came to light in July 2012 when control of the lab was being transferred to the state's public-safety agency from the health department. Interviewed by investigators in August 2012, Ms. Dookhan, long one of the most productive chemists at the state lab, admitted to visually identifying some drug samples rather than performing the required chemical test, prosecutors said.

State evidence included emails that defense lawyers said showed Ms. Doo khan was too cozy with prosecutors. She wrote to a prosecutor in 2009 that she wanted drug offenders "off the streets." Ms. Dookhan's criminal behavior was driven by "nothing more than her desire to be a productive employee," Judge Ball wrote in the sentencing decision, but the consequences of her actions "have been nothing short of catastrophic."

Massachusetts courts are being deluged with people who have been charged or convicted of drug crimes, with evidence tested at the crime lab, and who are now demanding release from state custody.

As of Nov. 5, superior courts in eight counties had held 2,922 hearings for 950 people as a result of the drug-lab scandal, according to the Massachusetts Court System. Through mid-October, 349 drug offenders had been released by the state Department of Corrections because of crime-lab events, a spokeswoman said.

More releases are likely. An August report by the governor's office said Ms. Dookhan's conduct may have affected more than 40,000 cases.

Massachusetts is one of several states, including Texas and Colorado, where crime-lab problems have raised questions about oversight of the labs.

"The conditions at that lab were atrocious," said Anthony J. Benedetti, chief counsel at Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel, the state public-defender agency. A state inspector general is expected to release a report soon delving into the operation of the lab.

 

[Paul98]

She needs to be shot in the face and thrown in the trash

 

[waggy]

christ. 40k cases can be adn should be thrown out..

 

[Scotteq]

Pretty sure the DOJ has room for such an obviously productive asset to their efforts.

 

[thraashman]

christ. 40k cases can be adn should be thrown out..

That's one of the scary things about this. How many of those cases are innocent people how many are actual offenders? How many innocent people have her actions destroyed the lives of and how many legitimate offenders will now have cases overturned because of her. The system only works so long as the people involved ensure its integrity.

 

[monovillage]

Pretty sure the DOJ has room for such an obviously productive asset to their efforts.

I'm sure the IRS could also use an employee with a total lack of integrity to investigate 501 c3's.

 

[SheHateMe]

I bet those 40K cases won't be thoroughly reviewed, though.

 

[EagleKeeper]

I bet those 40K cases won't be thoroughly reviewed, though.

If the lawyers on those cases are competent; they will file ASAP

 

[unokitty]

Just saw this article about a Massachusetts crime lab chemist falsifying test results.

If you think that problems like this are limited to Boston, then likely you get your information concerning Law Enforcement forensics from TV.

Here is another real world example.

Crime lab analyst kept on job despite shoddy work

A forensic examiner in the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab in Houston was kept on the job despite years of low production, a high error rate on drug cases and a dubious understanding of the chemistry involved in the job...

Nearly 5,000 drug cases statewide that were analyzed by forensic examiner Jonathan Salvador are in question because of his shoddy work...

Salvador examined evidence in 4,900 drug cases from 29 counties from 2006 through early 2012, including more than 250 each in Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Galveston and Fort Bend counties, lab records show.

During that time, he often "scrambled" to handle the minimum number of cases expected of examiners and had a 33 percent error rate, usually with administrative or clerical problems in his files.

The report concluded that "Salvador struggled with corrections and an overall understanding of the chemistry, especially in difficult cases."

Salvador quit in August after a Texas Rangers' investigation concluded he had falsely claimed to have tested a drug sample but actually used results from another case.

In May, then-Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos presented findings from the Rangers' investigation of Salvador to a grand jury, which declined to indict him.

... When he took office in January, Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson dismissed hundreds of pending cases handled by Salvador, he said Friday. His office is contesting efforts to overturn a handful of convictions until they are reviewed more closely.

Its not like it was a secret that HPD forensics was doing this. For example,

From 2005-2007, my investigative team and I reviewed and analyzed more than 3,500 cases in the disciplines of DNA, serology, toxicology, firearms, controlled substances, trace evidence and questioned documents. It was the most comprehensive investigation of a crime lab ever conducted. No limits were placed on our investigation, and we were permitted to expand its scope once we learned that there were profound problems in the way that serology (blood) analysis had been conducted going back more than 20 years. These problems called into question close to 200 cases in which defendants had been incarcerated based, at least in part, on blood evidence. When our final report was published in the summer of 2007, we expressed grave concern over the quality of DNA and serology analysis that had been performed in the lab – major problems with close to one-third of the DNA cases we reviewed, one-quarter of the capital (death penalty) DNA cases and one-fifth of all the serology cases. By any measure, these were unacceptably high numbers.

If you think that the 'lawyers' are going to work to make this right, then you lack an understanding of the criminal justice system.

The DA has his convictions. He will run his next election on his 'won/loss' record. He is not going to commit resources to unmaking his won/loss record.

Public defender's office is stretched so thin that they are not at all sure that they can cover their current cases. They have no resources to devote to 'making things right.'

Criminal defense lawyers? Sure, like certain other professions, if you have the money, they will do anything for you. But if you don't have money, they won't do anything for you.

In the system, the DA has already won, and the people in jail have already lost...

That's the status quo. And the system is very good at maintaining the status quo.

Uno

 

[waggy]

sadly uno is right.

unless you have money you are fucked. look at the duke rape case. if not for them having money and getting good attorney's they would be in jail.

the sad part is many who are really innocent are going to finish there time because of shit like this. the DA's don't give a shit. Defense lawyers? pfft. nobody to pay them.

 

[Darwin333]

If the lawyers on those cases are competent; they will file ASAP

Honest question, does a convicted inmate still have the right to a public defender? If so, how long do you suppose it will take them to get one considering there will be 10s of thousands of inmates looking for one along with the public defenders normal "clients" who haven't yet been convicted. I would imagine that this could take more than a decade to straighten out and a large portion of those convicted might serve their sentences before having the ability to get their conviction thrown out.

 

[Darwin333]

If you think that problems like this are limited to Boston, then likely you get your information concerning Law Enforcement forensics from TV.

Here is another real world example.

Crime lab analyst kept on job despite shoddy work




Its not like it was a secret that HPD forensics was doing this. For example,



If you think that the 'lawyers' are going to work to make this right, then you lack an understanding of the criminal justice system.

The DA has his convictions. He will run his next election on his 'won/loss' record. He is not going to commit resources to unmaking his won/loss record.

Public defender's office is stretched so thin that they are not at all sure that they can cover their current cases. They have no resources to devote to 'making things right.'

Criminal defense lawyers? Sure, like certain other professions, if you have the money, they will do anything for you. But if you don't have money, they won't do anything for you.

In the system, the DA has already won, and the people in jail have already lost...

That's the status quo. And the system is very good at maintaining the status quo.

Uno

I have always had an issue with DAs and the way we appoint them. As you said, they run on their won/lost ratio which to me and in fact the very founders of our legal system is completely irrelevant.

The only relevant statistic should be the amount of guilty people they convicted. Our legal system is based around the idea that it is better that 10 guilty men go free than a single innocent person be wrongfully convicted. Unfortunately the public has lost sight of this very basic premise and we are left with a system in which an innocent man being convicted is actually a career boosting event, cumulatively at least, for the DA.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Honest question, does a convicted inmate still have the right to a public defender? If so, how long do you suppose it will take them to get one considering there will be 10s of thousands of inmates looking for one along with the public defenders normal "clients" who haven't yet been convicted. I would imagine that this could take more than a decade to straighten out and a large portion of those convicted might serve their sentences before having the ability to get their conviction thrown out.

That is a question that should be put to some of our resident shysters .

I would also expect that there will be plenty of pro-bono lawyers eager to make a name.

 

[Jeff7]

3-5 years? That many? You'd think that the corrupt people she was helping would do more for her, especially with as many as 40,000 assists. She must have done something to piss off the wrong person.


And you'd think that this sort of "working relationship" might be an extremely-illegal conflict of interest, along the lines of insider trading. How often does this sort of thing happen already?

I have always had an issue with DAs and the way we appoint them. As you said, they run on their won/lost ratio which to me and in fact the very founders of our legal system is completely irrelevant.

The only relevant statistic should be the amount of guilty people they convicted. Our legal system is based around the idea that it is better that 10 guilty men go free than a single innocent person be wrongfully convicted. Unfortunately the public has lost sight of this very basic premise and we are left with a system in which an innocent man being convicted is actually a career boosting event, cumulatively at least, for the DA.

I think in their rationalized thinking, they do only send guilty people to jail.
"I wouldn't be prosecuting this person if they weren't guilty, right?"

 

[unokitty]

I think in their rationalized thinking, they do only send guilty people to jail.
"I wouldn't be prosecuting this person if they weren't guilty, right?"

How do I know that you don't know any DA's?

By the time a case gets to court, no one cares about guilt or innocence. All anyone cares about is winning or losing.

If a case isn't a slam dunk, many DA's will drop it because they don't want to take a chance on hurting their 'won/loss' record.

Besides the reality is that the vast majority of cases never get to court. Form Criminal Cases, USCourts.gov

Most defendants — more than 90% — plead guilty rather than go to trial. If a defendant pleads guilty in return for the government agreeing to drop certain charges or to recommend a lenient sentence, the agreement often is called a "plea bargain."

Or, the NY Times

More than 90 percent of criminal cases are never tried before a jury. Most people charged with crimes forfeit their constitutional rights and plead guilty.

“The truth is that government officials have deliberately engineered the system to assure that the jury trial system established by the Constitution is seldom used,” said Timothy Lynch, director of the criminal justice project at the libertarian Cato Institute. In other words: the system is rigged. -- NY Times

Its not at all like you see on TV.

Uno

 

[tommo123]

WTF is wrong with the people who sentenced her? 3-5 years? what the hell is that!?

there will be guilty people in jail who will demand to have a retrial as the evidence against them *must* have been one of the ones tainted and some might get out.

worse still is innocent people put in jail. even if only 1% were affected that's 400 peoples lives ruined and the real criminals got away with it.

she should be in jail for life, without parole.

 

[Via]

Holy shit.

That's huger than huge. EVERY SINGLE CASE that went through that lab while she worked there is tainted, imo.

 

[Doppel]

She needs to be shot in the face and thrown in the trash

Pretty much.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

...And I bet all those falsely convicted people are going to be suing, costing the State a lot of money in addition to the costs of incarceration.

Her sentence should be the total aggregate amount of time people were falsely convicted for and all of her assets should be seized to help contribute to the needed compensation.

We really need to reform our criminal justice system so that government employees and those crime lab contractors are held accountable for their own criminal and reckless behavior.

 

[shira]

Welcome to the war on drugs: Dedicated to the proposition that destroying people's lives to protect them from themselves makes total sense.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Blind faith in the legitimacy and authority of the state and its agents (and those it contracts) to behave themselves appropriately generally never disappoints in providing disappointing results in such cases. I guess the answer here is "MAOR GUBBERMENT" to the rescue for those who were ensnared and victims of our government's "war on drugs" and "war on poverty" public policies. Oh and this sounds oddly similar in nature (but not scale) to what happened in San Francisco a few years ago when the SFPD had its own crime lab fiasco. However in that case the crime lab technician was just stealing evidence for her own personal use but she was not proven to have tampered with results like this person.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Drug-lab-scandal-jeopardizes-hundreds-of-cases-3269092.php

 

[StrangerGuy]

As a former lab chemist I can tell you first hand it is very, very easy to falsify lab results even with the so-called rigid quality systems in place. I can practically change numbers on a piece of lab report without anyone ever questioning the validity.

So don't place too much trust in these things. You have been warned.

 

[werepossum]

That's one of the scary things about this. How many of those cases are innocent people how many are actual offenders? How many innocent people have her actions destroyed the lives of and how many legitimate offenders will now have cases overturned because of her. The system only works so long as the people involved ensure its integrity.

Well said. Penalty for intentionally falsifying evidence should be total time served for her convictions plus twenty years.

As blacks are disproportionately jailed, Holder ought to be looking at federal civil rights charges. This is one of the worst crimes I've seen, with potentially tens of thousands of victims.

 

[Genx87]

Welcome to the war on drugs: Dedicated to the proposition that destroying people's lives to protect them from themselves makes total sense.

+100

 

[Zaap]

Saddest of all, this is probably not even uncommon, just more people doing the same haven't got caught.

She should be doing life in prison, but it just goes to show how the system doesn't give a shit about integrity; those in power will protect their own.