Meet Annie Dookhan, the Government Chemist Who Purposefully Sent Thousands of Innocent

[Kind of Blue]

Americans to Prison

"Disturbingly, there are still numerous innocent people locked in prison, and they might not have any idea that it was Annie Dookhan who brought about the horrible fate they now face, day after day, year after year, stuck there with no hope of getting out.

Imagine being locked in a cell and knowing you’re innocent. Imagine how you’d feel as you watch the prime years of your life taken away from you — all because of a vicious government chemist, along with the low-IQ cops who willingly enforce the corrupt “war on drugs.”

Incredibly, more than four years after Dookhan’s crimes were first uncovered, this simple question of justice remains unresolved. Thousands of those whose lives were affected haven’t been notified of their rights, including the possibility of a new trial. Many still have no idea they are Dookhan defendants.

The mess isn’t even close to being cleaned up. And what a mess it is." http://filmingcops.com/corrupt-government-chemist-tampered-with-40000-cases-locking-countless-innocent-americans-in-prison/

[brer cat]

1. Horrific!

Four years and it still isn't cleaned up?

[Kind of Blue]

6. She's chilling and I don't understand either

why more people have not been released, knowing that they are innocent. Maybe an attorney or two here can weigh in on why thinking her light sentence is wrong and, in fact, the only choice that the judge had. Sheesh, she may be out in much less time for good behavior or something like that. She really is monstrous.

[Lisa D]

2. Her sentence was too light.

Only 3-5 years? She should serve at least 5 years, consecutively, for each person who was sent to prison because of her tampering and false testimony.

"The ACLU estimates that over 40,000 convictions are linked with the drug lab scandal."

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/09/thousands-drug-convictions-stake-dookhan-case/0EsGAC6f1nzVSEhRzdaVWN/story.html

The only word for it is: Evil

[Kind of Blue]

7. Thanks for the link.

I understand more now why many more people are not released.

ACLU lawyer Matthew Segal said many ‘‘Dookhan defendants’’ are afraid of asking a judge to vacate their guilty pleas in order to seek a new trial because under state law, they can be prosecuted for crimes that had been dropped when they entered their original plea deal.

‘‘They are afraid, and with good reason,’’ said Segal, the legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts.

[Digital Puppy]

3. K/R'ing for attention to modern-day evil and justice inequality

A couple of questions:

- If this person was Black would it still be 3-5 with 24mo probation?
- How many POC did her actions affect in the Boston area?
- How many D.A.'s knew or endorsed her actions?
- Is the D.A. actually going to do their job and go though all the cases she touched?
- Is Dookhan or the State now open to Civil litigation?

This is just a really F'd up, bittersweet story...

[Kind of Blue]

8. Good questions. I read a bunch of stuff

and some I failed to bookmark.

If this person was Black would it still be 3-5 with 24mo probation?
She is POC but from what I read, she probably had a crush on one of the prosecutors named George Papachristos.

“Glad we are on the same team,” he once wrote Dookhan — including one day in May 2010 when he told her he needed a marijuana sample to weigh at least 50 pounds so that he could charge the owners with drug trafficking.
“Any help would be greatly appreciated!” he wrote, punctuating each sentence with a long string of exclamation points. “Thank you!”
Two hours later, Dookhan responded: “OK . . . definitely Trafficking, over 80 lbs.” ­Papachristos thanked her profusely.
Dookhan had sent another email to Papachristos in which she told him she needed a man “to love me and make me laugh.” In other words, some of her victims went to prison because she had a crush on their prosecutor, and what an interesting prison story that makes; what are you in for? A hormonal chemist who was hoping to get laid.
http://anonhq.com/meet-annie-dookhan-the-government-chemist-who-purposefully-sent-thousands-of-innocent-americans-to-prison/

How many POC did her actions affect in the Boston area?
It's interesting that the video showed at least 2 AA men. Alluding to without saying, I think, that the people were mainly POC. Then read an article stating, As the law now stands, prosecutors can use the threat of longer prison terms, including mandatory minimum sentences, to discourage Dookhan's victims - who were largely poor people of color - from demanding new trials free of tainted evidence. These harsher punishments could even apply to people who have already served their sentences but risk returning to prison if they seek to vindicate their rights.
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2015/01/annie-dookhan-three-years-later-at.html

And Amicus the NAACP (New England Area Conference) supports democracy, dignity and freedom and stands against all forms of injustice. The NAACP is particularly interested in the judicial response to the Hinton Lab scandal because the massive fraud
committed by Dookhan likely caused disproportionate harm to persons of color.
https://aclum.org/app/uploads/2015/06/bridgeman-famm_amicus.pdf

How many D.A.'s knew or endorsed her actions?
Is the D.A. actually going to do their job and go though all the cases she touched?

I can't even guess if they knew or endorsed her actions. But certainly all those 40,000 cases were not for the love of one prosecutor. There is a D.A. on job going thru all of those cases.
Norfolk County District Attorney, Michael Morrissey, has been set on the task of reviewing thousands of files to determine who was wrongfully prosecuted.
http://anonhq.com/meet-annie-dookhan-the-government-chemist-who-purposefully-sent-thousands-of-innocent-americans-to-prison/

This is just a really F'd up, bittersweet story...
I have no words to describe my total disgust.

[Starry Messenger]

4. Wow.

She should get much longer of a sentence. How horrible!

[Kind of Blue]

9. I wish I could get an explanation for

such a short sentence when we know of countless who've done far less and received much, much more.

[Number23]

5. Good God... WHY???????!!!

Is this a case of mental illness or what? Why would anyone do this??

And why has she only been sentenced to 5 years in jail for this??!

[Kind of Blue]

10. Her only explanation is

“I screwed up big time. I messed up. I messed up bad. It’s my fault. I don’t want the lab to get in trouble.”

The lab??? What? What a sacrificial lamb she is, protecting the lab. How about 40,000 people she messed up too afraid to even request another trial? Gawd! Just for that she should get another 5 years.

[Number23]

11. For real!! Her primary concern is the freaking lab and not the tens of thousands of people

who's lives she's ruined??!

And I am still just slack jawed she only got 3-5 years!!!!!!

[Kind of Blue]

12. Good Grief, another one in Massachusettes!

Hunting for why Dookhan's sentence is so light, found this

The injustice she committed cannot be measured. And she will be out in 3-5 years.

Had she committed any number of non-violent drug or firearm offenses — that victimize no one — the penalty could easily reach 10 or 20 years in prison. But her admitted 9-year crime spree, that destroyed innumerable lives, earned her only a fraction of that punishment. In twisted irony, Dookhan turned out to be more of a menace to society in her government job than the thousands of non-violent drug offenders she obsessively sought to imprison could have ever hoped to be. But her punishment is less than many of theirs. Justice?

And this

Kate Corbett, who worked in the same lab as Dookhan, claimed that she had a “chemistry degree” from Merrimack College.

Corbett never earned that degree, according to a report. She was actually a sociology major who took a few chemistry classes.

Using false pretenses, Corbett also may have testified as a chemistry “expert” in dozens of court cases, which could add to the devastation that Dookhan has already caused.

Defense attorneys argue that doubt has been cast over 190,000 cases which were processed by the Hinton lab, and all of them should be reviewed in the interest of justice. http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/annie-dookhan-crime-lab-chemist-falsified-evidence/

I found nothing past 2014 of what happened to the over 190,000 cases.