"The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office is notifying defense attorneys
that a State Police lab technician who was recently removed from work
for faking a drug test result has mishandled at least 11 other cases. The notice is the clearest indication yet that Kamal Shah’s alleged
misconduct relates to a lot more cases than the one bungled drug test
that authorities said was the cause for his suspension in December. The state Attorney General’s Office had said in a letter last month
that Shah was removed after he was observed “spending insufficient time”
on a drug test and that he was removed from work immediately. The
office also instructed all county prosecutors in the state to notify
defense attorneys about Shah’s removal for all drug cases in which Shah
was the technician who conducted the drug test.
But a March 10 letter sent to defense attorneys by the Passaic County
Prosecutor’s Office states that “a next-day review of [Shah’s] work
reportedly revealed either errors in reports or that his case notes were
missing key information, in 11 cases that Mr. Shah prepared.” Shah was a
technician at the Little Falls lab for 10 years, where he conducted
drug tests and prepared lab reports that were later used in court as
evidence against narcotics defendants. Authorities have said Shah was
involved in more than 7,800 drug cases statewide.........Maureen Parenta, a spokeswoman for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s
Office, said Wednesday that the county has 2,300 drug cases in which
Shah prepared lab reports. It is not yet clear how prosecutors and the courts will handle those
cases in which Shah’s reports were used. The letter by the Passaic
prosecutors states that “for those cases that are currently pending in
Superior Court, the [drug] evidence will be submitted to the State
Police laboratory for re-testing.” Defense attorneys, however, have said
that re-testing is not a sufficient remedy, and that a drug sample
cannot be trusted once it was in the hands of a technician who is
accused of fraud. They also argue that Shah’s removal not only casts
doubt on the thousands of cases he handled, but also on the
quality-control procedure at the lab. All of Shah’s lab reports were reviewed and signed by colleagues and
supervisors. If he acted fraudulently, then those who reviewed his work
were either negligent or complicit, which raises questions as to the
entire lab’s credibility, according to defense attorneys. Many have
already filed motions seeking to have indictments and convictions thrown
out and guilty pleas withdrawn.........Shah has not been charged criminally, and
authorities said they could not confirm or deny if he was under
investigation. Officials have said he retired shortly after his removal
from his $101,039-a-year job, and his pension benefits have been
suspended pending the allegations against him."
http://www.northjersey.com/news/passaic-county-prosecutor-s-office-says-n-j-lab-tech-mishandled-at-least-11-other-cases-1.15351