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"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009;
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The judge ordered the office to develop a plan for dealing with defendants in cases involving destroyed evidence. "Those cases will be dismissed," a spokesman for Grewal, Peter Aseltine, told NJ Advance Media. "We are working with Judge Jerejian, the Public Defender and the Administrative Office of the Courts to establish a process to dismiss those cases." According to the judge's order, the remaining cases in which evidence is still available will be subjected to a more rigorous form of drug testing than was in place at the time of the scandal. First Assistant Public Defender Kevin Walker said the move toward newer methods had been a positive result of the scandal. "Hopefully with its adoption, we will avoid future allegations of laboratory fraud," he said."
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STORY: "More than a thousand drug cases will be tossed after N.J. State Police lab scandal," by reporter S.P. Sullivan, published by NJ.com on May 10, 2018.
GIST: "Prosecutors are moving to dismiss at least 1,169 drug cases
undermined by a State Police lab scandal because the evidence was
destroyed before it could be retested. The disclosure comes as a special judge appointed to deal with the
legal fallout of accusations against a drug lab chemist has ordered the
Attorney General's Office to finish retesting thousands of affected
cases. Judge Edward Jerejian was appointed in April 2016 to
oversee the case, which began when a technician at the state Office of
Forensic Sciences laboratory in Little Falls was accused of falsifying
records in a single drug case. The technician, Kamalkant Shah, was allegedly caught in December 2015
"dry-labbing" evidence in the marijuana case -- essentially recording a
positive identification without properly analyzing the sample. Shah was
the subject of a criminal investigation but ultimately was not
criminally charged. That left local, county and state authorities open to challenges to
the convictions of any case Shah touched during his time at the lab. More than two years later, Jerejian on Wednesday issued an order
laying out a three-step process for vetting the cases, which could total
anywhere from 7,827 to 14,800. The
order states that the New Jersey Attorney General's Office has already
retested 1,326 samples from cases Shah handled, all of them "affirming
the original positive test results" for drugs. So far, the state has received 485 motions to toss drug charges as a
result of the scandal, more than 400 of which have been "resolved." A
spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said just four of those
cases were thrown out by the judge. But another 1,169 cases have been identified in which the drug
evidence was destroyed, meaning authorities cannot retest the samples to
confirm they contained drugs. In a statement, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said his office was
"committed to ensuring that no conviction is upheld unless we are
satisfied that any drug testing conducted was in fact reliable." The judge ordered the office to develop a plan for dealing with defendants in cases involving destroyed evidence. "Those cases will be dismissed," a spokesman for Grewal, Peter
Aseltine, told NJ Advance Media. "We are working with Judge Jerejian,
the Public Defender and the Administrative Office of the Courts to
establish a process to dismiss those cases." According to the judge's order, the remaining cases in which evidence is still available will be subjected to a more rigorous form of drug testing
than was in place at the time of the scandal. First Assistant Public
Defender Kevin Walker said the move toward newer methods had been a
positive result of the scandal. "Hopefully with its adoption, we will avoid future allegations of laboratory fraud," he said."
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/05/judge_gives_ag_deadline_for_dealing_with_drug_case.html
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/c
