PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "A Dale County judge sentenced Brandy Murrah to 15 years in prison last Thursday after she pleaded guilty to one felony charge of perjury and 16 misdemeanor counts of forgery. Murrah, 37, previously owned A&J Lab Collections in the town of Ozark, where she would collect blood, urine and hair samples to send off to another center for testing. According to prosecutors, Murrah owed money to that testing center and they were unwilling to extend her any further credit. Thus, Murrah allegedly took matters into her own hands and began falsifying test results in order to save cash. The Dale County Department of Human Resources used A&J Lab Collections to obtain samples from recovering drug users. In many instances, their tests results would determine whether or not they could keep custody of their children. On at least 15 occasions, Murrah falsely claimed that samples had come back positive for drugs. This resulted in multiple parents being separated from their children by the courts."
- STORY: "Alabama lab owner is jailed for 15 years for forging drug test results and costing parents custody of their children - including the mother of a three-month-old baby whose test falsely showed she had 'meth' in her system," by reporter Andrew Court, published by The Daily Mail on November 19, 2020.
GIST: "The owner of an Alabama laboratory has been jailed for forging drug test results, falsely claiming that parents had narcotics in their system and costing them custody of their young children in the process.
A Dale County judge sentenced Brandy Murrah to 15 years in prison last Thursday after she pleaded guilty to one felony charge of perjury and 16 misdemeanor counts of forgery.
Murrah, 37, previously owned A&J Lab Collections in the town of Ozark, where she would collect blood, urine and hair samples to send off to another center for testing.
According to prosecutors, Murrah owed money to that testing center and they were unwilling to extend her any further credit.
Thus, Murrah allegedly took matters into her own hands and began falsifying test results in order to save cash.
The Dale County Department of Human Resources used A&J Lab Collections to obtain samples from recovering drug users. In many instances, their tests results would determine whether or not they could keep custody of their children.
On at least 15 occasions, Murrah falsely claimed that samples had come back positive for drugs. This resulted in multiple parents being separated from their children by the courts.
New mom Grace Locke had her three-month-old baby taken away from her because her drug test results falsely showed that she was positive for methamphetamine.
'I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest because I knew I was doing right with this one,' Locke told the Dothan Eagle.
'I don't understand why anybody would ever do that to any family, any children, for no reason'.
In another instance, Jennifer Severs lost custody of her three children after a forged lab report falsely showed she had methamphetamine and marijuana in her system.
Murrah's rouse soon came to an end when Severs' irate mother decided to investigate further.
She tracked down Severs' doctor who subsequently determined that the testing center had never actually screened a sample that Severs had provided to Murrah's A&J Lab Collections.
Murrah was arrested in 2019.
'It's hard when your children get snatched away from you,' Severs told WTVY last week.
Murrah has admitted wrongdoing and has asked for forgiveness.
However, her apology was not enough to save her from jail, where she is expect to stay until 2035."
The entire story can be read at:
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; -----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD (FOR NOW!): "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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