Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

Sometimes, when reviewing stories for the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog, I come across stories which almost make me speechless. Of course, that is a terrible thing for an experienced criminal defense attorney to be. Fortunately, Attorney Sam’s Take is written, not spoken.

In any event, this is one of those stories.

It concerns 53-year-old Juan Antonetty of Lowell (hereinafter, “Defendantx2” and his most recent trip to the Lowell District Court today.

You see, Defendantx2 had a pending drug case. He had been charged by police with possessing with the intent to distribute the class A drug, heroin. Yesterday, he was showing up in court for his Arraignment.

It is normal to want to put your best foot forward at an arraignment. After all, it is the first time you are showing up in court to answer on charges and, of course, there is that pesky bail issue that could come up.

On the other hand, for other folks, going to court for whatever reason may simply be a regular occurrence so that the time for making a good impression is a thing of distant history.
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…And the wheels on the criminal justice machine continue. including drug cases. Despite the recent Boston Crime Lab debacle don’t think for a minute that the Commonwealth is slowing down in its criminal investigations into drug dealing. Of course, some cases appear to be more stereotypical than others.

You have no doubt heard about the stereotypical love of Dunkin’ Donuts that law enforcement is supposed to have. I don’t know what level of truth there is in that, but I do know that when I go to DD’s, there is usually a police presence. And I don’t think that they are after me….

One Framingham DD got alittle more police attention than it wanted earlier this week. Law enforcement claims that at said restaurant, the menu included more than coffee, pastry and sandwiches. An employee, 18-year-old Anthony Buskey (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was allegedly making a little money on the side by selling marijuana out of the shop.
Yesterday, the Defendant pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was released on personal recognizance.

Officers say that they had received a tip about the drug trafficking. They then set up a sting operation targeting the marijuana side-busyness.

Sure enough, they say they saw the Defendant leave the DD and get into a car with two men and conduct what appeared to be a drug deal. The officers moved in and searched the car.

Marijuana was said to be found.

Now they just have to find a working lab in which to test it.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Search, Seizure And Drug Dealing

“Wait a minute, Sam. I thought possession of a small amount of pot was no longer illegal”.

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I raised the issue of whether something was being done regarding the current Massachusetts drug lab fiasco other than arresting the scandal’s star performer Annie Dookhan (“Exchemist”).

Well, we know that there is an investigation going on…limited though it may be. We know that District Attorneys are sickend at folks gaining their freedom and warning the general public that the end of civilization as we’ve known it is coming.

Some of us are still waiting to see what, if anything, will be done to prevent this sort of thing from happenning again and really fixing 1/2 of the criminal justice system.

We, by the way, doubt it.

However, the court is making some changes in order to adjust to the inflow of cases which this debacle has brought.

Robert Mulligan, chief justice of the state trial court, pledged last week to use every possible resource to make sure these cases, numbering into the thousands, will be dealt with expeditiously.
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Welcome to October and, with the new month, we have even more developments in the Commonwealth’s drug lab scandal. Attorney Sam’s Take is happy to tell you that actual law enforcement actions are being taken!

First of all, the former chemist at the center of the controversy, Annie Dookhan (the “Exchemist”) has been arrested on preliminary charges. According to Attorney General Martha Coakley, more charges may well be coming.

Exchemist’s admitted mishandling and falsifying drug samples and testing results prompted the shutdown of the Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Boston last month and resulted in the resignation of three officials, including the state’s public health commissioner.

Oh…and, as discussed all last week, her deeds has also thrown the Massachusetts criminal justice system, at least in terms of drug cases, into crisis.

The extent? So far, the Commonwealth indicates that 34-year-old Exchemist handled more than 60,000 drug samples involving 34,000 defendants during her nine years at the lab.

The lab in which she worked has been closed.

More than a dozen drug defendants are back on the street while defense attorneys challenge the charges based on Exchemist’s alleged misconduct. Authorities say more than 1,100 inmates are currently serving time in cases in which Exchemist was the primary or secondary chemist.

On Friday, Exchemist pleaded not guilty the court set her bail at $10,000. As special bail conditions, she was also ordered to turn over her passport, submit to GPS monitoring, and not have contact with any former or current employees of the lab.

She stands charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and pretending to hold a degree for college or university. As such, she faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

So far.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced and explained the charges at a press conference on Friday. She said that the two obstruction charges accuse Exchemist of lying about drug samples she analyzed at the lab in March 2011 for a Suffolk County case, and for testifying under oath in August 2010 that she had a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts.

Wait a minute…obstruction for only one month…over a year ago ???

Attorney Sam’s Take On Sacrificial Defendants

Before you assume that the Attorney General has a problem with her memory, be assured that she has also announced that more charges may well be coming as the investigation continues.
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The ramifications of the Commonwealth’s latest law enforcement travesty continues. The review of various cases tainted at the hands of the credibility-challenged drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan (hereinafter, “Exchemist”) continue. The apparently wrongful incarceration of various Massachusetts prisoners, however, are coming to an end. At least for a little while.

This week’s Attorney Sam’s Takes have been focused on this ever-changing story, as well as the cries of impending doom to us all by the chief law enforcement of Suffolk County, Daniel Conley. Today, we bring you the reaction from the District Attorney of another county…and the illness it has apparently caused him.

Take, for example, the case of Jeff Lucien. Two years ago, Quincy police claimed that he sold them cocaine in a school zone. When he was confronted by the evidence the Commonwealth said it had, he pleaded guilty in return for a five-year prison sentence. Two days ago, Lucien walked into the Dedham courthouse from which he had been sentenced. He came out free and carrying his child.

Lucien’s five-year sentence, still at three years to go, has been vacated. His plea has been thrown out and his case reverted back to pretrial status.
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Apparently, Annie Dookhan (hereinafter, “Exchemist”), the chemist at the center of the Commonwealth’s drug lab problems, may have been estranged from veracity for longer than we thought.

As you would imagine, in order to even get her job at the lab, she had to show that she was qualified. She had to be educated in the field. And she was…so she said. Her resume indicates that she had a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

That was fine…until the University of Massachusetts Boston became aware of the claim. Now that Exchemist has achieved some amount of infamy…the school has learned of it.

They show that the claim is not true. Close, though. She did request an application for the program…she just never completed it. Apparently, her education ended in 2001 when she finished undergraduate school.

Of course, falsifying a resume is not perjury, per se. After all, the resume is not under oath. Unless it is part of an application which is under the threat of perjury.

Which her job application was.

But that’s ok. testifying on the stand, while under oath, is perjury. We now know that she did that about her alleged degree on at least one occasion in August, 2010.

Of course, that may not be a big deal to someone who apparently was lying about so much else under oath for the last previous years.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Criminal Crime Fighters

As you know, I have combined the odyssey of Exchemist with the history of Detective Johnson earlier this year to ask, “and we believe that this is the only time this has happened….why?
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David Meier, a fellow former prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney, as Attorney Sam’s Take told you last week, is the lawyer placed in charge of assessing the extent of the state drug lab scandal. His findings thus far reflect that 690 people are in state prison and 450 people are in county jails or houses of correction due to evidence that may have been mishandled at the lab.

So far.

After all, he was only appointed last week. Further, as he himself points out, the first priority of the investigation was to find out who is actually incarcerated in cases which were handled in some way by what the Commonwealth wants to write off as a “rogue chemist”. Her name is Annie Dookhan. In this blog she is generally referred to as “Exchemist”.

“We are doing our human best” to expedite the process, Meier explained. “We are taking it one step at a time.”

The next step will apparently be to try to identify other people whose cases involved the taint who are still awaiting trial, people charged in federal cases, and people involved in cases that are already closed.

Meanwhile, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley continues to shout to the heavens about the horrors of some of these people being freed. As mentioned yesterday, his prosecutorial sky is falling. He warns the public that prisoners who could soon be released include, “high-level dealers, violent felons, and armed gunmen.”

Oh, yes. By the way, they apparently include innocent folks too.

Just sayin’…!

Attorney Sam’s Take On Tainted Drug Evidence

For those of you wondering what the big deal is here, let me share a bit more of the alleged admissions of Exchemist. We have previously discussed that she admitted ignoring protocols created to protect against taint and that she may have fiddled with amounts of drugs found in substances. Apparently, she has now also admitted to mixing drug samples to actually create positive results as well as increasing weights on drug samples.
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With each day, the scandal over the Boston-based State Crime Lab and its problems in the testing of illegal drugs is becoming more and more serious. For example, Suffolk County judges have freed at least 11 defendants facing drug charges. Said defendants range from no record to lengthy criminal records.

These defendants were in jail awaiting trial on drug charges. Their cases had been touched by ex-chemist Annie Dookhan (“Exchemist”). Such touching, like any other disease, has tainted the cases. Severely.

Prosecutors, as one might expect, are not happy. As has recently been the case (again) with ex-prosecutor Christopher Darden of O.J. Simpson fame, prosecutors tend to whine when something like this happens. Partiularly when it is this embarassing.
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley has already taken a position fitting as we near the holiday of Halloween. He may as well wear a scary mask as he tries to frighten the citizenry.

“We have an obligation to protect every defendant’s constitutional rights, and we embrace it,” Conley decries, “But we can’t lose sight of the massive public safety implications here. A large number of dangerous individuals could be released right back to our streets and neighborhoods.” He continues to complain that some of the prisoners who could soon be released include “high-level dealers, violent felons, and armed gunmen.”

Translation: “Aw, come on….I know we have to honor that constitution-thing and yadda-yadda-yadda…but these folks who are presumed innocent unless I can prove them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (which I now might not be able to do) are getting free!”

In other words, the prosecutorial sky is falling.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Prosecutorial Responsibility

As time has gone by, matters are getting worse from the prosecutorial viewpoint.
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