Bad Justice, it's everywhere, it's everywhere

[xoxoxoBruce]

An article at Slate is basically about when a problem with the judicial system occurs, it's usually something which has been going on for awhile. The biggest problem then is everyone saying, not my fault/not my problem/not my mess, so nobody cleans it up. Nobody tries to correct the damage, or stop future damage. They talk about the ongoing problem in California with jail house informants, then two instances they cite are in Massachusetts.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of a massive scandal that cannot seem to be reversed involves Annie Dookhan, a chemist who worked at a Massachusetts state lab drug analysis unit. Dookhan was sentenced in 2013 to at least three years in prison, after pleading guilty in 2012 to having falsified thousands of drug tests. Among her extracurricular crime lab activities, Dookhan failed to properly test drug samples before declaring them positive, mixed up samples to create positive tests, forged signatures, and lied about her own credentials. Over her nine-year career, Dookhan tested about 60,000 samples involved in roughly 34,000 criminal cases. Three years later, the state of Massachusetts still can’t figure out how to repair the damage she wrought almost single-handedly.

By the close of 2014, despite the fact that there were between 20,000-40,000 so-called “Dookhan defendants” (depending on whether you accept the state’s numbers or the American Civil Liberties Union’s), fewer than 1,200 had filed for postconviction relief.* Many of them were sentenced under plea agreements rather than at trial, and they feared that a re-examination of their cases could potentially lead to even longer sentences.
~snip~
Of course, there are also an awful lot of folks whose convictions were predicated on a massive fraud. Many of them don’t even know this, and most cannot afford to hire attorneys to reopen their cases. Even if they have already served their sentences, the collateral impact of having drug convictions infects every part of their lives. Who is responsible for fixing that?

In Massachusetts it doesn’t even end there. Only a few months after Dookhan’s conviction, it was discovered that another Massachusetts crime lab worker, Sonja Farak, who was addicted to drugs, not only stole her supply from the evidence room but also tampered with samples and performed tests under the influence, thus tainting as many as 10,000 or more prosecutions. Records show Farak used cocaine, crack, or methamphetamines daily or almost daily while she was at work, as well as ketamine, MDMA, ecstasy, phentermine, amphetamines, LSD, and marijuana. Farak pleaded guilty and served 18 months behind bars.

But in April, Massachusetts’ highest court found that state law enforcement officials had never fully investigated the scope of Farak’s wrongdoing, retesting only 10 samples of her work. And based on new discoveries by defense lawyers, the extent of Farak’s drug abuse now appears far greater than was initially alleged. Officials at the time of Farak’s arrest claimed she had tampered with the drugs she tested beginning only in July 2012, and only after she had tested each sample. That is now in serious doubt.
~snip~
Two defense attorneys, Luke Ryan and Rebecca Jacobstein, subpoenaed Farak’s medical records to see if their clients had been affected and found that her drug use and theft had extended all the way back to 2004, eight full years before the state claimed it began. They contend that this new evidence warrants a review of all 29,000 samples Farak claimed to have tested during her career. They also claim the government concealed this “smoking gun” evidence from defense attorneys.
~snip~
Over the past decade, crime lab scandals have plagued at least 20 states, as well as the FBI. We know that one of the unintended consequences of the war on drugs has been a rush to prosecute and convict and that crime labs have not operated with sufficient independence from prosecutors’ offices in many instances. Their mistakes ruin lives. Years of deliberate falsification have ruined thousands of lives. We also know that there remains almost no reason for a prosecutor’s office to admit error and that the cost of fixing those errors can become prohibitive. So what do we do when a scandal infects hundreds or thousands of prosecutions? If Massachusetts is any indication, even three years later, we still don’t do all that much.

The crook, the dirty scum-sucking lowlife motherfucker Nixon.

[glatt]

That's so fucked up. How do you fix it? If you release them all, you know a large percentage of them are bad guys who will harm society. But with that many cases, it would take years to re-try all of them.

Maybe you make all of them eligible for parole today and let the parole boards decide who is safe to set free.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's so fucked up. How do you fix it?

Fix what? The symptoms? That is easy. Every case must be reviewed. No way around that.

Problem is not yet discussed. 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. Those are where prison sentences are required. That is why these symptoms exist. Always go after the source and reason for symptoms. Never just cure symptoms.

[Lamplighter]

Now that these 2 technicians have been found legally guilty,
I would think any innocent inmates would be justified in filing
$$$$ lawsuits against the State and also the specific lab technicians.

I remember there was a big stink in the FBI lab about an "expert witness" who
was doing much the same thing of (falsifying) identification of patterns of tooth bite marks.
Likewise, FBI and Police lab technicians' testimony on identification
of hair and fiber analyses are very likely inaccurate and/or false.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Likewise, FBI and Police lab technicians' testimony on identification
of hair and fiber analyses are very likely inaccurate and/or false.

I read an article earlier this year about that very thing. The FBI agent/analyst/lab tech/whatever confessed to basically lying and making up facts in an unbelievable number of cases involving hair samples.

It's been so long, I'm not even gonna try to find the article. It's probably Googleable.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

FBI and Police lab technicians' testimony on identification of hair and fiber analyses are very likely inaccurate and/or false.

very likely? How about potentially or possible or sometimes/occasionally.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by classicman

very likely? How about potentially or possible or sometimes/occasionally.

How about: Have been shown to be inaccurate and/or false

link here
.

[xoxoxoBruce]

See, that's why they should execute them right away, the next day, to avoid messes like this.

[Lamplighter]

See, that's why they should execute them right away, the next day, to avoid messes like this.

I think that's the way it's done under Sharia Law.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by classicman

very likely? How about potentially or possible or sometimes/occasionally.

Haven't read Lamp's link, but the report I heard basically said the whole science of it was deeply flawed. They were offering as concrete evidence something that is shaky at best even as an indicator.