Thousands of Massachusetts drug convictions being vacated due to evidence problems

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill


BY CAMERON JENKINS - 03/23/21 10:14 AM EDA

Massachusetts district attorney is set to vacate thousands of drug convictions due to issues with evidence and a "catastrophic failure of management," according to a press release.

Rachael Rollins, district attorney of Suffolk County, Mass., on Monday announced a plan to vacate all drug convictions within the county between May 2003 and August 2012. The plan, dubbed the Hinton Lab Initiative, cites that the evidence certifications for cases during that time period were carried out by the William A. Hinton State Lab, where chemists Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak – both of whom were later charged with mishandling evidence – worked, the release stated.

"No defendant harmed in this ignominious chapter of Massachusetts law enforcement history should continue to bear the burden and be marked with the brand of the Commonwealth's extensive wrongdoing," Rollins's office wrote in a court filing, according to The Boston Globe.

Farak was convicted of tampering with drug evidence in an Amherst, Mass., crime lab, though she was not charged for tampering with evidence at the William A. Hinton State Lab, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Dookhan was also found guilty and sentenced to three to five years in prison, CNN noted. The William A. Hinton State Lab has since been closed.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/544465-thousands-of-massachusetts-drug-convictions-being-vacated-due-to

[Indykatie]

1. It Seems I Remember This Case From a Few Years Ago - Why is MA Just Now Vacating The Convictions?

[Ms. Toad]

2. They have all now served at least 8.5 years

Unless their sentence was less.

Win-win from the state's perspective. No more very costly litigation costs to defend its own incompetence, but long enough after the fact so there is unlikely to be a public outcry about drug users/sellers getting off without penalty.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Surely people who were sent to prison will still be able to sue over it?

Sure, part of their case goes away (about the future effect on their lives), but if they're claiming they were innocent, then they can still sue over the time they spent in prison.

[Ms. Toad]

4. The general rule is that you don't get compensated by the state

unless you prove your innocence (which is nearly impossible to do).