Monday, December 17, 2012
The chemist at the center of the state drug lab investigation allegedly mishandled evidence in thousands of Massachusetts drug cases.
Annie Dookhan, the chemist who stands accused of mishandling evidence in thousands of state drug cases, has been indicted on new charges. Dookhan was indicted by statewide grand jury on 27 charges today including 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, perjury and falsely pretending to hold a degree from a college or university, according to a press statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. “We allege that Annie Dookhan tampered with drug evidence and fabricated test results on multiple occasions,” Coakley said in the statement. “Her alleged actions have sent ripple effects throughout the criminal justice system. We are committed to working with all stakeholders to fix this situation and…
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A look back at developments in the evidence tainting scandal out of the shuttered State Drug Lab in JP. Thousands of drug dealer convictions could be overturned.
New estimates of the cost to clean up the State Drug Lab scandal came into focus this week. And the numbers are frightening for taxpayers. Veteran courts journalist John Ellement of the Globe uncovered that $35 million has already been asked for by various arms of government scrambling to deal with the fallout. "Rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan at the State Drug Lab in JP was allowed, over the course of nine years, to mishandle 34,000 or more samples in drug cases. Convicted drug dealers are already going back on the streets as a result. This week Ellement reported that the state judiciary needs $8.7 million to handle as many as 136,000 criminal cases that may have been corrupted. That's every single case that passed through the State Drug Lab…
Saturday, October 20, 2012
A roundup of developments in the shocking breakdown at the State Drug Lab in JP, in which a chemist was allowed to mishandle drug evidence for years.
Courts continued to set convicted drug dealers free as the state deals with the fallout from the alleged actions of a "rogue chemist" who was allowed to mishandle drug evidence for years. Here's a roundup of key developments this week as the state works through more than a thousand cases in which people are behind bars on evidence handled by Annie Dookhan, the disgraced worker at the shuttered State Drug Lab in JP. For all of Jamaica Plain Patch's coverage of the JP Drug Lab Scandal, please visit our topic page on the issue.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey accepted prosecutor George Papachristos's resignation Wednesday. Papachristos was investigated by state police over his email correspondence with crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan.
A Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney has resigned in the wake of a State Police investigation of his relationship with JP Crime Lab "Rogue Chemist" Annie Dookhan. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey released a short statement about the resignation late Wednesday afternoon: After discussions with his supervisors, Assistant District Attorney George Papachristos has offered his resignation and District Attorney Michael Morrissey has agreed to accept it. George Papachristos communicated that he does not wish to be a further distraction from the central issue of the criminal conduct that has been alleged and the complete breakdown of supervision that allowed it to continue. Papachristos and Dookhan corresponded by email, with …
wayne pollard
1:59 pm on Friday, May 10, 2013
Why are we so surprised? Ms. Dookhan is just another state employee completely unqualified for the position, hired by another state employee that didn't do his/her job in verifying her credentials before giving her the job, because that state employee isn't qualified to do their job either....And talking about unqualified state employees, what has the Honorable Governor got to say about all this… more ›