'Rogue Chemist' From JP Lab Scandal Won't Testify in Shawn Drumgold Drug Case

UPDATE, Wednesday, 6:28 p.m. — The Globe reports that the judge will not immediately drop charges in the drug case against Shawn Drumgold. The judge said he will give prosecutors time to determine whether or not "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan handled the evidence against Drumgold.

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Two notorious figures in Massachusetts crime crossed paths in court Wednesday, as "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan pleaded the Fifth to avoid testifying.

Dookhan exercised her Constitutional right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions in a drug case against Shawn Drumgold. That's the same Shawn Drumgold who spent 14 years behind bars for the murder of 12-year-old Darlene Tiffany Moore. The child was killed in crossfire between rival gangs on a Roxbury playground in 1988. It was one of the city's most notorious killings of the 1980s.

But Drumgold was freed in 2003 after witnesses changed their stories, saying police intimidated them into saying it was him, according to the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan.

Drumgold got a $14 million restitution package from the state for wrongful incarceration, the Herald reports.

Drumgold was back in court Wednesday as the . Dookhan's initials, ASD, appear on a form linked to samples in two charges against Drumgold.

Drumgold's lawyer told the Herald the state is sitting on exculpatory evidence because of her client's history. A spokesperson for prosecutors told the Herald there is nothing to those allegations.

Last summer, a new playground opened in Franklin Park dedicated to Moore's memory.

As for Dookhan, she remains free on $10,000 bail after pleading not guilty to, so far, two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of falsifying a college degree.

The Herald has much more on Wednesday's legal fireworks, which took place at Roxbury District Court.

For all of Jamaica Plain Patch's coverage of the JP Drug Lab Scandal, please visit our topic page on the issue.