A Supreme Judicial Court decision could open the flood-gates and grant freedom to tens of thousands from the prison system. The lucky ones who will be free-to-go by Monday’s decision are those with their drug tests “mistakenly, mishandled” in such a way that thousands of “forged” results, which were grounds for long-term incarceration.
Crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan was found to have tainted the evidence, the Justices ruled unanimously in cases where the defendants’ wrongful convictions were based on evidence tested and tainted by the crooked chemist. So now new trials can be sought without the burden of additional charges or other sentences being handed down to them as a deterrent.
For 14 years in the state crime lab, Dookhan had continuously tampered with these defendant’s test results while also forging documents and falsely testifying in criminal cases. After destroying tens of thousands of lives Ms. Dookhan pled guilty to 27 counts of wrongdoings, which included obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence. She got a measly 3 to 5 year sentence and two years of probation.
The legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Matthew Segal, applauded the justices decision by saying that “it clears a path for people to challenge — when I say people, I say thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people — to challenge their convictions without fear that prosecutors will respond by seeking to revive harsher charges or harsher sentences that were relinquished in a plea bargain.”
Prosecutors pressed aggressively that during her time employed at a drug lab in Boston, Dookhan completely failed to correctly test samples and decided to label them positive anyway. She was also found to have mixed up samples and forged signatures, and lied about her credentials several times.
So far, over 300 have been released from prison as a result of these revelations. In 2013 the number of court cases effected by Dookhan’s corruption was to be at about 40,000 cases. The unfortunate whose convictions depended on Dookhan’s dishonest test evidence are being labeled “Dookhan defendants.”
Less than 1,200 defendants had filed for post-conviction relief by the end of 2014. Which Mr. Segal said “attributed to fear by many that they could actually face previously dropped charges or additional prison time if their cases were overturned.”
“This dynamic was causing the entire effort to get justice, due process, causing that effort to come to a screeching halt,” Mr. Segal added. “People were not filing new motions. People were afraid.”
“This dynamic was causing the entire effort to get justice, due process, causing that effort to come to a screeching halt,” Mr. Segal added. “People were not filing new motions. People were afraid.”
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