Annie Dookhan

ACLU Asks Mass. Supreme Court to Hear Drug Scandal Cases

Lucas Willard — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 02:00:00 +0000

BOSTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is asking the state's highest court to get involved in a state drug lab scandal that threatens to derail thousands of criminal cases.

The ACLU is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to find that all defendants whose cases were handled by former state chemist Annie Dookhan have a presumptive right to have their sentences put on hold while motions for new trials are pending.

Dookhan is accused of faking test results and tampering with evidence.

Mass. Chemists Paid to Stay Home Despite Backlog

Lucas Willard — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:00:00 +0000

BOSTON (AP) — Thirteen employees of a now-closed Massachusetts drug lab are receiving full salaries and benefits even though they have been unable to work as an investigation into the actions of one of their fellow chemists continues.

Mass. Ex-Chemist Accused of Faking Test Results Pleads Not Guilty

Lucas Willard — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — A former Massachusetts chemist accused of faking test results at a state drug lab has pleaded not guilty to six counts of obstruction of justice in a scandal that could jeopardize thousands of drug convictions.

Annie Dookhan was indicted on a total of 27 charges accusing her of fabricating test results and tampering with drug evidence while testing substances in criminal cases.

Mass. Republicans Call For New Forensic Services Board

Lucas Willard — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:00:00 +0000

BOSTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are calling for creation of a new state board to oversee forensic services facilities after a former chemist was accused of tampering with drug evidence at a state lab.

The proposal announced on Wednesday by the four GOP members of the state Senate would create a five-member oversight panel consisting of the secretary of public safety, the attorney general, the state inspector general, the head of the state police and one gubernatorial appointee.

Ex-Mass. chemist arraigned in drug lab case

Associated Press — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:26:10 +0000

WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — A former Massachusetts chemist accused of faking test results at a state drug lab has pleaded not guilty to three counts of obstruction of justice at the first of two scheduled arraignments.

Neither Annie Dookhan nor her lawyer commented after her appearance Wednesday in Middlesex Superior Court.

She is scheduled to be arraigned on two more counts of the same charge later Wednesday in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham.

She had previously pleaded not guilty to similar charges in Suffolk Superior Court, where she was freed on $10,000 bail.