Governor Deval Patrick on Monday picked the state's inspector general, Glenn Cunha, to lead a widespread probe of what went wrong at the State Drug Lab in JP, where thousands of cases may have been compromised.
Gov. Deval Patrick has tapped the state's inspector general to lead a wide-ranging probe of the State Drug Lab, where evidence in thousands of cases may have been compromised. "The governor called for an independent assessment of the drug lab to complement the ongoing criminal and central office investigations into chemist Annie Dookhan’s wrongdoing and to determine whether the lab’s failures are limited to Dookhan and her supervisors and managers, all of whom have been removed from their positions," the governor's office said in a statement. Inspector General Glenn Cunha, a former managing attorney at the Attorney General's office, will look at systemic issues while Attorney General Martha Coakley focuses solely on criminal prosecution of…
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It was announced Monday that Suffolk Superior Court, which handles cases in Boston, will have special court sessions in October to deal with cases in which a so-called "rogue chemist" may have tainted evidence.
The state announced on Monday its latest move to deal with the unprecedented scandal out of the State Drug Lab in Jamaica Plain. Suffolk Superior Court will host a series of sessions dedicated to cases affected by the lab crisis, said Jake Wark, spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney. So-called "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan is alleged to have tainted evidence in thousands of cases. She was arrested on Friday on charges of obstruction of justice and falsely claiming a university degree. She pleaded not guilty and was freed on $10,000 bail. The Franklin woman is required to wear a GPS monitoring device. The court sessions are expected to be the weeks of Oct. 15 and 22, Wark said. "We are assembling a task force of prosecutors …
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In a live chat on Patch Thursday, Gov. Deval Patrick said he approves of the extraordinary step of allowing release to defense attorneys of State Police interviews with alleged "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan.
Gov. Deval Patrick took part in a live chat on Patch Thursday. In it, he spoke about the scandal engulfing the State Drug Lab in Jamaica Plain. That's where so-called "rogue chemist" Annie Dookhan is alleged to have tainted the evidence in as many as 34,000 cases. Thousands of drug dealers behind bars could go free (and some have already been released.) Asked by Patch for a progress report on the mammoth task of dealing with the fallout, here's what the governor typed: The criminal investigation is ongoing. Yesterday, in a very unusual move, prosecutors gave defense attorneys all the notes of State Police interviews of witnesses to date, including the notes of the interview of Annie Dookhan, the chemist at the center of this. Given the …
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The chemist whom the state blames for tainting evidence in thousands of drug cases appears to have lied on the witness stand about having a master's degree in chemistry.
Officials have added perjury to claims against a "rogue chemist" at the shuttered state drug lab in Jamaica Plain. It emerged Tuesday that Annie Dookhan, whose actions may have tainted 34,000 drug cases, appears to have lied in court by claiming a master's degree in chemistry. Dookhan, formerly known as Annie Khan, earned an undergraduate bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from UMass Boston in 2001. But, in contradiction of her testimony in a 2010 drug case, she doesn't have a master's. "We have no record of her doing subsequent graduate work at our campus," a UMass official told the Associated Press. 'No one has heard her side' Meanwhile, as convicted criminals have begun to be freed in cases where Dookhan's evidence was used…
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