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.)
https://trofire.com/2017/04/16/thousands-people-prison-criminal-scientists-put/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:
The entire interview can be found at:
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/
