Friday, April 21, 2017

Annie Dookhan: Ring of Fire Radio interview: "Thousands Of People In Prison: Criminal Scientists Put Them There." A perspective from Mollye Barrows, legal journalist for The Trial Lawyer Magazine, about the rogue scientist at a state laboratory who tainted thousands of criminal drug cases..."In a short answer, people need to be worried. I think again the bigger issue is, does there need to be a reform in the perception of these labs being an extension of law enforcement? Or should they be held to higher standards? Regulations in place where they should be holding these techs accountable so they can’t get away with things like this."


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Mollye, how has one rogue chemist … I mean, this is a crazy story. One rogue chemist able to falsify so many reports for so long without being caught, and more importantly, how weird is that and what was her motivation?"

MIKE PAPANTONIO;

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INTERVIEW:  "Thousands Of People In Prison: Criminal Scientists Put Them There," published by American Lawyer, on April 16, 2017; (Via America’s Lawyer: Mike Papantonio is joined by Mollye Barrows, legal journalist for The Trial Lawyer Magazine, about a rogue scientist at a state laboratory who forged evidence in tens of thousands of criminal drug cases....(James Michael Papantonio, popularly known as Mike Papantonio, is an American attorney and television and radio talk show host. He is past president of The National Trial Lawyers, the most prestigious trial lawyer association in America; and is one of few living attorneys inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.
Papantonio co-hosts Ring of Fire Radio, a nationally syndicated weekly radio program, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder. He also hosts a weekly television program called “America’s Lawyer”, which appears on RT America.)

GIST: "It’s one of the most jaw dropping scandals to ever hit America’s legal system. Back in 2012 the state of Massachusetts was forced to close William A Hinton State Lab after a rogue chemist named Annie Dookhan was caught falsifying drug tests and actually tempering with evidence. Now it appears that Dookhan’s action will overturn more than 23,000 convictions of mostly low level drug offenders. Here to talk about that development is Mollye Barrows, legal journalist with The Trial Lawyer Magazine. Mollye, how has one rogue chemist … I mean, this is a crazy story. One rogue chemist able to falsify so many reports for so long without being caught, and more importantly, how weird is that and what was her motivation? What’s your take on this story? Mollye: I know, it does sound like an episode of Law and Order, doesn’t it? But it actually happened in real life. According to data this is happening more often at labs across a number of states. Critics say the bigger issue is that the entire criminal justice system needs to be reformed because a lot of these drug labs are being seen as an extension of law enforcement, when in reality their role is to be neutral when they test evidence from cases, especially low level drug offender cases like the majority of these cases that were being tested by Annie Dookhan. She apparently worked there for nearly 10 years and got away with it for so long. Critics say there were red flags but she did get away with it for so long because the entire system again needs to be reformed. She was friendly with prosecutors when she was supposed to be neutral, her coworker said. She was so ambitious that they said her work, the turnout of test that she was turning alone, churning out so many results, that should have been a red flag. When other people were going through the process, that was supposed to be done. On top of that there isn’t a lot of accreditation, including the lab where she was working at, they weren’t properly accredited, which allows for misuse and mishandling of evidence like this, not a lot of checks and balances.........Mike: The precedent this case sets for lab … We’ve got about a minute. If this case really does go where we think it’s going to go, and there’s people who are going to be retried, this has just begun. My call on it at this point having seen similar kinds of cases is Dookhan probably was not the only one involved. What kind of precedent that this create? Mollye: I think you’re going to see more and more of this. She served about two and half years for tempering with evidence, she was released last year. There are eight other similar cases in different states, in fact more cases than that but in eight different states. I think this is going to continue to be … In a short answer, people need to be worried. I think again the bigger issue is, does there need to be a reform in the perception of these labs being an extension of law enforcement? Or should they be held to higher standards? Regulations in place where they should be holding these techs accountable so they can’t get away with things like this."

The entire  interview can be found at:


https://trofire.com/2017/04/16/thousands-people-prison-criminal-scientists-put/

For insight into Annie Dookhan's motivation, see the Washington Post story at the link below:


 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/21/how-a-lab-chemist-went-from-superwoman-to-disgraced-saboteur-of-more-than-20000-drug-cases/?utm_term=.108e47d3bcde


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;