Prosecutors across the State of Massachusetts announced on Tuesday they would be throwing out almost 20,000 cases that relied on evidence handled by a disgraced Trinidad-born drug lab chemist, Annie Dookhan.
Dookhan, who worked at the Department of Public Health, pleaded guilty in November 2013 to charges, including perjury, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice for falsifying drug tests in criminal investigations.
She was sentenced to serve three to five years in prison, and paroled in March 2016.
According to US media reports, about 95 per cent of 20,000 drug convictions in Massachusetts have been dismissed as a result of Dookhan’s criminal misconduct in analysing drug samples.
Dookhan worked testing drug samples submitted by law enforcement agencies from 2003 until 2012, when investigators accused her of contaminating drug samples, falsifying results, and mishandling evidence.
Investigators said she admitted to intentionally contaminating some samples to turn them from negative samples into positive samples. She also admitted to “dry labbing” in which she tested a few samples but reported the same results for multiple other samples.
Dookhan pleaded guilty to 27 criminal counts in all, including charges of perjury, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice.
According to the media reports, the scandal cast doubt on drug-testing analyses in about 40,000 cases from 2003 to 2012. More than 20,000 convictions of those remained against so-called “Dookhan Defendants”.
Officials believed her actions may have affected up to 40,000 cases and the State set aside millions of dollars for defendants who would eventually challenge the drug evidence used in their convictions which may have passed through the Boston lab from which she operated.
How could Dookhan complete 20,000 analysis in ~ 9 years? Lets see:
20,000/9 = ~2,222 cases per year.
2,222/12 = 185 cases per month
185/22 = 8.4 cases per day (approximately 22 working days per month on average)
8.4/8 = 1.1 case(s) per hour (8 hour working day – zero overtime)
I guess it is possible if she doesn’t take any lunch break 😀
Lmaooo you made my night Lmaooo but thats so true..it doesnt seem possible. I wonder if shes the scapegoat
I wish all 20,000 cases benefit from her nastiness. She should be deported after her sentence run off.
Had to a Trinidadian.
Under no condition is this a fair comment,do better mon!!I only love Nicki Minaj n Wendy Fitzwilliam cuz really no care fi the rest a okish Trini dem …but even me know yuh gone way overboard wid such a almshouse generalization deh smh!
Had to be
Unu si di one weh attack the Uber driver? And claim se shi a doctor…. dem really full a dem self
Look at her pic closely sinister if di word go desso but a dat mi get.
what a wicked wretch … dear God..
Look like she was bored af widdi job and lazy to boot. If you don’t like the career you’re in just leave it. Sake a money and status unno stay in deze places and prefer fck up, just leave wid your dignity intact. Mi see lawyer a quit guh tun Baker. Doctor a quit guh tun photographer. Life is about peace of mind and happiness, if you nuh like what you doing go seek your bliss.
She wicked nuh rass she to get sentance and deported dam evil gal want send innocent people a prison them to let go all she test cause now they don’t know who innocent from who not
Real why do u always have something negative to say about Trinidadians. About must be a Trini when jamaicans do every crime in the book.Yardie we nuh care for u either .I was backing u hard when half the people on here was attacking you kmtt u hurt my feelings !! now what’s okish? . jamaicans are known con artist, thieves,scammers ,and the list goes on .uno to focking hypocritical and bias for me yes
Tonks Miss TNT for the backing but I would have preferred ur fronting.You sure it was half,how you arrive at that fraction dear??..in any event hopefully u know u were on the winning half!
I’m saddened that ur feelings are hurt because if u read again but carefully this time,u will see it wasn’t my intention so to do.However u know I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t speak my truth n call it how I see it.For the record 3 Trini women have professed undying love fi me to date and zero 0 dislike, so me winning 3love n hopefully I get to drop a 6love pon unno Trini dougla ladies! !!
To be clear most Jamaicans are okish too,we have some fantastic ones and some damn disgusting ones. ..just like the Trinis,the majority is okish because we all have we dutty ways.
Have a blessed day dearest Miss TNT and keep defending the honor of ur nation!
Im with Anonymous 5:20 on this. This woman is a scapegoat for what ever bigger is going on, why would you risk so much to “save” so much people in a country u are not even from. Im not buying it.
What’s her motive for doing this? Do duppy just stand up in her or what????
Was she overworked and stressed and wanted to do the job in a timely fashion because of pressures from her boss? Was she just evil? Or was she instructed by someone to make sure those samples came back positive,thus ensuring convictions in those cases? So many questions.