Sonja Farak: Massachusetts: New Netflix series: The Mirror (Film Writer Lewis Knight) she was forced to defend herself in court after being sued by a man claiming to have been wrongfully convicted. "Infamous drug lab chemist Sonja Farak faced an agonising new court case after being released from jail for smoking crack on the job. The Mirror can reveal she was forced to defend herself in court after being sued by a man (Rolando Penate) claiming to have been wrongfully convicted."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Mirror can reveal she was forced to defend herself in court after being sued by a man claiming to have been wrongfully convicted. She was eventually convicted for her crimes in 2014 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. The impact of her case was that thousands of convictions that had been aided with evidence from the lab were overturned. However, despite serving 13 months in prison, Sonja has since faced further legal battles. Rolando Penate filed a $5.7 million lawsuit in 2017 against Sonja and 17 other defendants over his drug conviction which had hinged on tests that Farak had conducted. She had been dropping acid and smoking crack on the day that she conducted the test on Penate's case, according to court records seen by Heavy. Farak went on to represent herself in the civil case and filed her own response, with aid from attorney Susan Sachs. She wrote in her defence statement: "I agree that I began stealing and using the state lab's supply of methamphetamine oil, but I do not recall if it was late 2004 or early 2005 so I cannot agree with the year stated.""

STORY: "Sonja Farak faced new drugs civil court court case  after crack jail shame and defended herself,  by Film Writer Lewis Knight, published by The Mirror."

SUB-HEADING: "Netflix's true crime series How to fix a drug scandal follows the  misconduct that Sonja Farak committed while abusing drugs at her job as a lab chemist."

GIST: "Infamous drug lab chemist Sonja Farak faced an agonising new court case after being released from jail for smoking crack on the job.

The Mirror can reveal she was forced to defend herself in court after being sued by a man claiming to have been wrongfully convicted.

She was eventually convicted for her crimes in 2014 and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The impact of her case was that thousands of convictions that had been aided with evidence from the lab were overturned.

However, despite serving 13 months in prison, Sonja has since faced further legal battles.

Rolando Penate filed a $5.7 million lawsuit in 2017 against Sonja and 17 other defendants over his drug conviction which had hinged on tests that Farak had conducted.

She had been dropping acid and smoking crack on the day that she conducted the test on Penate's case, according to court records seen by Heavy.

Farak went on to represent herself in the civil case and filed her own response, with aid from attorney Susan Sachs.

She wrote in her defence statement: "I agree that I began stealing and using the state lab's supply of methamphetamine oil, but I do not recall if it was late 2004 or early 2005 so I cannot agree with the year stated."

She declined to interact with the press after visiting court last year, saying "Not at this point",   according to Mass Live.

Penate's lawsuit also names the former state defendant and attorney general, for he perceived them as suppressing the extent of Farak's misconduct coming to light.

The Netflix docuseries taps into the systemic failures related to the case too.

The series' director Erin Lee Carter spoke to Women's Health about how Farak contributed to the show - by meeting Carter off-camera.

Carter said: "I was personally nervous, and I came away with a deeper level of understanding about her, about the case—and I felt a lot of gratitude that she met me.

"She's somebody that sort of shies away from press. I think that this is really painful and difficult that her case is getting re-examined in sort of a public way because, you know, when you put things on a network like Netflix, people are going to talk about it."

No doubt Sonja will continue to keep a low profile in light of the series' release."

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See headnote for earlier post on this Blog relating to Rolando Penate (May 28, 2016)  at the link below. "Bulletin: Sonja Farak: Rolando Penate: Massachusetts; Dynamite exposée by "The Eye"..."Defense attorneys say withheld Farak notes implicate prosecutors," by Shawn Musgrave..."Massachusetts prosecutors withheld evidence of corrupt state narcotics testing for months from a defendant facing drug charges, and didn’t release it until after his conviction, according to newly surfaced documents and emails. The case of Rolando Penate has become a leading example for lawyers calling for further investigation into alleged misconduct by prosecutors who handled documents seized from Sonja Farak, the Amherst crime-lab chemist convicted of stealing and tampering with drug samples. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. The Farak documents indicate she used drugs on the very day she certified samples as heroin in Penate’s case. But when Penate’s lawyer tried to obtain the documents — not certain what was in them — before his client’s 2013 trial, he was rebuffed by state prosecutors who said the papers were “irrelevant” according to emails included in investigative reports unsealed earlier this month. At the time of Penate’s trial, the state Attorney General’s Office contended Farak’s misdeeds dated back only as far as 2012."..."Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence – including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition."... Defense attorney Luke Ryan describes finding undisclosed evidence that was seized from Sonja Farak’s car, as well as how he determined that the documents were from 2011. “It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents,” Ryan wrote to the Attorney General’s Office two days later. State prosecutors hadn’t provided this evidence to other district attorneys’ offices contending with the Farak fallout, either. Two weeks after Ryan’s discovery, the Attorney General’s Office shipped nearly 300 pages of previously undisclosed materials to local prosecutors around the state. “Not only did they not turn these documents over, but I wasn’t aware that they existed,” said Frank Flannery, who was the Hampden County assistant district attorney assigned to appeals following Farak’s arrest. “At the very least, we expected that we would get everything they collected in their case against Farak.” Flannery, now in private practice, said the substance abuse worksheets are “clearly relevant” to defendants challenging Farak’s analysis. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. Penate and other defendants are asking see all of Foster’s emails regarding Farak and other materials relating to the handling of evidence in the chemist's case. A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month."

https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/search?q=%22rolando+penate%22

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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;

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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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The entire story can be read at:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/sonja-farak-defended-herself-court-21806978

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Bulletin: Sonja Farak: Rolando Penate: Massachusetts; Dynamite exposée by "The Eye"..."Defense attorneys say withheld Farak notes implicate prosecutors," by Shawn Musgrave..."Massachusetts prosecutors withheld evidence of corrupt state narcotics testing for months from a defendant facing drug charges, and didn’t release it until after his conviction, according to newly surfaced documents and emails. The case of Rolando Penate has become a leading example for lawyers calling for further investigation into alleged misconduct by prosecutors who handled documents seized from Sonja Farak, the Amherst crime-lab chemist convicted of stealing and tampering with drug samples. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. The Farak documents indicate she used drugs on the very day she certified samples as heroin in Penate’s case. But when Penate’s lawyer tried to obtain the documents — not certain what was in them — before his client’s 2013 trial, he was rebuffed by state prosecutors who said the papers were “irrelevant” according to emails included in investigative reports unsealed earlier this month. At the time of Penate’s trial, the state Attorney General’s Office contended Farak’s misdeeds dated back only as far as 2012."..."Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence – including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition."... Defense attorney Luke Ryan describes finding undisclosed evidence that was seized from Sonja Farak’s car, as well as how he determined that the documents were from 2011. “It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents,” Ryan wrote to the Attorney General’s Office two days later. State prosecutors hadn’t provided this evidence to other district attorneys’ offices contending with the Farak fallout, either. Two weeks after Ryan’s discovery, the Attorney General’s Office shipped nearly 300 pages of previously undisclosed materials to local prosecutors around the state. “Not only did they not turn these documents over, but I wasn’t aware that they existed,” said Frank Flannery, who was the Hampden County assistant district attorney assigned to appeals following Farak’s arrest. “At the very least, we expected that we would get everything they collected in their case against Farak.” Flannery, now in private practice, said the substance abuse worksheets are “clearly relevant” to defendants challenging Farak’s analysis. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. Penate and other defendants are asking see all of Foster’s emails regarding Farak and other materials relating to the handling of evidence in the chemist's case. A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month."

"Massachusetts prosecutors withheld evidence of corrupt state narcotics testing for months from a defendant facing drug charges, and didn’t release it until after his conviction, according to newly surfaced documents and emails. The case of Rolando Penate has become a leading example for lawyers calling for further investigation into alleged misconduct by prosecutors who handled documents seized from Sonja Farak, the Amherst crime-lab chemist convicted of stealing and tampering with drug samples. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. The Farak documents indicate she used drugs on the very day she certified samples as heroin in Penate’s case. But when Penate’s lawyer tried to obtain the documents — not certain what was in them — before his client’s 2013 trial, he was rebuffed by state prosecutors who said the papers were “irrelevant” according to emails included in investigative reports unsealed earlier this month. At the time of Penate’s trial, the state Attorney General’s Office contended Farak’s misdeeds dated back only as far as 2012. To better estimate how many convictions will have to be reviewed because of Farak, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered a report on the history of her illicit behavior. The report concluded she was usually high while working in the lab for more than eight years before her arrest in January 2013 and started stealing samples seven years ago. A second unsealed report into allegations of wrongdoing by police and prosecutors who handled the Farak evidence, overseen by retired state judges Peter Velis and Thomas Merrigan, drew less attention. Relying on an investigation conducted by state police, the judges concluded there was “no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice” in matters related to the Farak case. Several defense attorneys who called for the Velis-Merrigan investigation say the former judges and their state police investigators got it wrong. They say court records and newly released emails show prosecutors sat on evidence they were familiar with that pointed to Farak’s drug use in 2011, when she worked on Penate’s case. “I don’t know how the Velis report reached the conclusion it did after reviewing the underlying email documents,” said Randy Gioia, deputy chief counsel at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state’s public defender office. Gioia called for evidentiary hearings “so prosecutors can be asked about what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did with their knowledge.” Luke Ryan, Penate’s trial lawyer, said that the state police officers working on the report “failed to obtain an appropriate understanding of the events that transpired before they were assigned to this investigation.” Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence – including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition."......... Defense attorney Luke Ryan describes finding undisclosed evidence that was seized from Sonja Farak’s car, as well as how he determined that the documents were from 2011. “It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents,” Ryan wrote to the Attorney General’s Office two days later. State prosecutors hadn’t provided this evidence to other district attorneys’ offices contending with the Farak fallout, either. Two weeks after Ryan’s discovery, the Attorney General’s Office shipped nearly 300 pages of previously undisclosed materials to local prosecutors around the state. “Not only did they not turn these documents over, but I wasn’t aware that they existed,” said Frank Flannery, who was the Hampden County assistant district attorney assigned to appeals following Farak’s arrest. “At the very least, we expected that we would get everything they collected in their case against Farak.” Flannery, now in private practice, said the substance abuse worksheets are “clearly relevant” to defendants challenging Farak’s analysis. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. Penate and other defendants are asking see all of Foster’s emails regarding Farak and other materials relating to the handling of evidence in the chemist’s case. A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month."
http://eye.necir.org/2016/05/28/farak-withheld-evidence/

Rolando Penate: Sonja Farak; Massachusetts; Mass Live story on Penate's blistering $5.7 million federal court lawsuit alleging 'government corruption' in drug lab and evidence room scandals..."The 57-page lawsuit filed Tuesday paints a disheartening picture of the state's criminal justice system, including: an alleged thieving evidence room cop; the former state chemist who admitted she was raiding drug lab samples and consuming cocaine and LSD on the job; state attorneys and police who allegedly staged a cover-up to save face and avoid extra work; indifferent and underfunded state health officials who essentially relegated a now-defunct Amherst crime analysis lab to crash-and-burn status. These separately troubled individuals and agencies intersected to put Penate, a small-time accused heroin dealer, behind bars until Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey dismissed his conviction in late June, according to the suit."

STORY: "Alleging 'government corruption' in drug lab, evidence room scandals, Springfield drug defendant files $5.7 million federal lawsuit," by reporter Stephanie Barry,  published by Mass Live on September 5, 2017.

GIST: "A civil rights lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court combines nearly every recent high-profile law enforcement scandal in the region -- which, according to the complaint, collided to unfairly put one man behind bars for more than five years. Rolando Penate served five years, seven months and 12 days in prison while his attorney fought to prove the case against him had been corrupted on multiple levels, the lawsuit states. Now, Penate is suing 18 defendants including assistant attorneys general and their managers, state health officials who oversaw forensic drug labs, disgraced former chemist Sonja Farak, city police officers and the estate of late detective Kevin Burnham, plus the city itself. Penate is pursuing $5.7 million in damages, according to court documents. The 57-page lawsuit filed Tuesday paints a disheartening picture of the state's criminal justice system, including: an alleged thieving evidence room cop; the former state chemist who admitted she was raiding drug lab samples and consuming cocaine and LSD on the job; state attorneys and police who allegedly staged a cover-up to save face and avoid extra work; indifferent and underfunded state health officials who essentially relegated a now-defunct Amherst crime analysis lab to crash-and-burn status. These separately troubled individuals and agencies intersected to put Penate, a small-time accused heroin dealer, behind bars until Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey dismissed his conviction in late June, according to the suit. Carey also issued a 127-page decision lambasting the state attorney general's office for mishandling and concealing evidence in the Farak case, among other missteps."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/09/drug_defendant_released_after.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/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.

Sonja Farak: Massachusetts; Yet another ramification! Drug defendant Rolando Penate's lawyer is seeking access to evidence used by the state to prosecute chemist Sonja Farak - including "quite a bit of correspondence regarding how bad is this scandal?" Masslive.com

STORY: "Lawyer for drug defendant Rolando Penate seeks access to evidence used by state to prosecute chemist Sonja Farak,"  by reporter Buffy Spencer, published by the Republican on October 2, 2013.

GIST:  "Attorney Luke Ryan argued in Hampden Superior Court Wednesday on behalf of drug defendant Rolando Penate he should be able to look at all the evidence - such as drugs, drug bags and lab envelopes - being used by the state to prosecute former state chemist Sonja Farak. Ryan also wants to look at Farak’s personnel file to see if there were problems earlier than the state contends and whether she was getting adequate supervision. He wants to see if she was asked in her application for work at the lab if she had a drug problem. Farak, 35, of Northampton, faces trial early next year in Hampshire Superior Court. She is charged with four counts of evidence tampering, four counts of larceny of drugs and two count of possession of cocaine.........Ryan also asked Kinder to make the state turn over to him inter-agency communications - such as emails - sent within the Attorney General’s office regarding the scope of Farak’s conduct and the Amherst lab. He also wants communications between that agency and other state agencies about Farak. He said he expects there was quite a bit of correspondence regarding “how bad is this scandal?”Foster said Kaczmarek and State Police Sgt. Joseph Ballou told her there was nothing in emails or other communications that would be a “smoking gun” or that has not already been disclosed.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/lawyer_for_drug_defendant_rola.html

 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/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

Sonja Farak: Massachusetts; Mass Live reports that the disgraced drug lab chemist is acting as her own attorney as defendant in a $5.7 million federal lawsuit..." In her lengthy response to Penate's lawsuit, Farak writes: "I agree that I began stealing and using the state lab's supply of methamphetamine oil, but I do not recall if it was late 2004 or early 2005 so I cannot agree with the year stated." While she concedes little else, Farak also agreed that state public health officials tasked with overseeing the Amherst lab rarely, if ever, showed up there."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "At issue in Penate's lawsuit is when Farak's drug abuse and plundering of the evidence began. Two former attorney's general originally insisted it began just months before her arrest. But in reality, they possessed clinical notes by Farak's own hand seized by state police upon her arrest that showed she had been stealing meth, cocaine, LSD and other drugs for nearly a decade."

STORY: "Disgraced drug lab chemist Sonja Farak emerges as her own attorney as defendant in $5.7 million federal lawsuit," by Stephanie Barry, published by Mass Live on January 5, 2017.

GIST:  "Disgraced former state drug lab chemist Sonja Farak -- who indulged a voracious drug habit for years, siphoning police evidence she was tasked with preserving and testing -- is representing herself in a $5.7 million federal lawsuit filed against her and a slew of city and state officials. Rolando Penate -- who spent more than five years in prison for drug crimes despite rampant misconduct by Farak and state attorneys general, as well as alleged indifference by state officials responsible for overseeing the state's drug labs -- filed a lawsuit in September. The 57-page complaint argues the justice system was corrupted on multiple levels and resulted in Penate's wrongful incarceration. His conviction was dismissed in June by Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard Carey. The judge also issued a withering decision on the state attorney general's office mishandling and concealing evidence in the Farak case. Farak is among 18 defendants in the Penate lawsuit. In December she filed a neatly typed answer to the complaint, listing her only contact information as a post office box in Hatfield, and responding to nearly 400 separate allegations. Because of the impersonal nature of answers to legal complaints, the response sheds little light on her life in the wake of the scandal. But, it is the only significant public exposure Farak has risked since being released after serving an 18-month jail sentence for theft of drugs from the lab, cocaine possession and evidence tampering. She was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty in 2014. At issue in Penate's lawsuit is when Farak's drug abuse and plundering of the evidence began. Two former attorney's general originally insisted it began just months before her arrest. But in reality, they possessed clinical notes by Farak's own hand seized by state police upon her arrest that showed she had been stealing meth, cocaine, LSD and other drugs for nearly a decade. Answers from other defendants including city detectives who investigated and arrested Penate plus motions to dismiss the case by certain defendants have begun trickling in. A motion hearing has not yet been set in the case. On Nov. 30, district attorneys from across the state announced they were collectively forced to dismiss more than 6,000 drug cases due to Farak's crimes and subsequent mishandling of evidence in her case by two former state prosecutors. That number later increased to 8,000. Of those, 4,000 came from Hampden County alone."

The entire story can be found at:

Comments

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/disgraced_drug_lan_chemist_son.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/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.