PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL);
Columnist Howie Carr misses the point in his frothing sea of verbal rhetoric. (That's some of my own!) The ultimate sentencing of Annie Dookhan - if and when that comes to pass - will not center around punishment for causing the "most expensive crime wave in state history." Much to the contrary, it will be a punishment for deliberately sabotaging the Massachusett's criminal justice system so that it was unable to do its job of separating innocence and guilt according to established rules and principles of law. In a sense, the judge's job on sentencing has been made easier because she does not appear to be advancing mitigating factors such as "inadvertence" or "noble cause corruption." Ultimately, I expect that judge will have to craft a sentence that is based on the principle of deterrence - the need to deter other actors in the criminal justice system - including other forensic scientists, police and prosecutors - from abusing their trust by sabotaging the justice system. There is no question in my mind, that on conviction Annie Dookhan will have to receive a harsh prison sentence because of the massive level of her criminality. True, there is no indication that she has a previous criminal record (she wouldn't have been working at the state lab if she had) but that would ultimately have to be considered as a factor in the parole process. Deliberate obstruction of the court process by state actors is far to common in the criminal justice system in the U.S.A. and elsewhere and must be dealt with firmly by the courts. This has nothing to do with "crime waves." It has everything to do with keeping it safe from attack by those within.
Harold Levy. Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.
COMMENTARY: "Carr: Annie Dookhan playing victim card," by Howie Carr, published by the Boston Herald on October 20, 2013.
GIST: "This silly stupid woman may have unleashed the greatest, most expensive crime wave in state history."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2013/10/carr_annie_dookhan_playing_victim_card?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bostonherald+%28Home+-+BostonHerald.com%29
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
