STORY: "Criminal investigation under way for lab tech; thousands of drug convictions in doubt," by reporter Kibret Marcos, published by 'The Record' on April 16, 2016.
GIST: "Authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into allegations that a State Police lab technician faked results in a drug case, the lab’s director said Wednesday, confirming for the first time that a criminal probe is under way in a case that has thrown thousands of drug convictions into doubt. Cynthia McSweeney, the highest ranking official at the Little Falls lab, was testifying at an evidence hearing in a drug case in Superior Court in Paterson, where defense attorneys argued that the alleged misconduct of the suspended lab technician, Kamal Shah, should be revealed to a jury to raise doubts about the accuracy of lab reports. Prosecutors, meanwhile, objected to any mention of Shah in a trial, arguing that his alleged misconduct should not be allowed to smear the work of other lab technicians. Judge Scott Bennion conducted the hearing. He said he would rule on the issue next month. Shah, who worked at the lab for more than 10 years, was immediately removed in December after he reportedly was witnessed placing a marijuana sample under a microscope, and without adjusting the focus, recorded a result, according to McSweeney’s testimony in court on Wednesday. He was observed doing that with only one sample, officials said. The state Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to all county prosecutors in February, notifying them of Shah’s removal and instructing them to contact defense attorneys in cases in which Shah prepared the lab reports that were used to convict drug defendants. The Attorney General’s Office has said Shah was involved in more than 7,800 drug cases during his time at the lab. Shah was suspended without pay in January and later retired. Officials had declined to confirm or deny whether he was under investigation. During her testimony on Wednesday, McSweeney said that the lab has been retesting samples that Shah had analyzed while he worked there as a forensic scientist. She said that aside from that endeavor, “there is a criminal investigation that is ongoing.”
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
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.
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;
