If there's ever any uncertainty over "whether exculpatory information should be disclosed," the Supreme Judicial Court later wrote, "the prosecutor must file a motion for a protective order and must present the information for a judge to review.". . Farak was arrested the next day, and the attorney general's office assigned the case to Anne Kaczmarek. They say court records and newly released emails show prosecutors sat on evidence they were familiar with that pointed to Faraks drug use in 2011, when she worked on Penates case. The next month, Ryan asked again. This might not have mattered as much if the investigators had followed the evidence that Farak had been using drugs for at least a year and almost certainly longer. Gainey added that Healey is pleased with their conclusion that prosecutors and the state police acted appropriately. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder
Judge Kinder denied Ryans motion. When grand jury materials were eventually released to defense attorneys, then, they did not mention that these documents existed. The case of Rolando Penate has become a leading example for lawyers calling for further investigation into alleged misconduct by prosecutors who handled documents seized from Sonja Farak, the Amherst crime-lab chemist convicted of stealing and tampering with drug samples. Martha Coakley, then attorney general for the state, argued in Melendez-Diaz that a chemist's certificate contains only "neutral, objective facts." A. READ NEXT: Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal Story: 5 Fast Facts, Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. The report
El 6 de enero de 2014, Farak se declar culpable de los cargos en su contra. motion with Hampden Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Kinder to see the evidence for himself. As How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores, Farak had long struggled with her mental . concluded there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice in matters related to the Farak case. The civil lawsuit was one of the last tied to prosecutors' disputedhandling of the case against disgraced ex-chemist Sonja Farak, who was convicted in 2014 of ingesting drug samples she was supposed to test at the Amherst state drug lab. A scandal erupts, raising questions for the thousands of defendants in her cases. His report deemed Dookhan the "sole bad actor" at the lab, a finding that remains disputed in some circles. After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. Her job consisted of testing drugs that have. She had unrestricted access to the evidence room. "Thousands of defendants were kept in the dark for far too long about the government misconduct in their cases," the ACLU and the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state's public defense agency, wrote in a motion. Massachusetts drug lab scandal tied to Sonja Farak and Hinton Lab Penate argued the court should follow those findings. February 2013 email, to which he attached the worksheets. This threw every sample she had ever tested into question. On a Friday afternoon in January 2013, a call came in to Coakley's office: "We have another Annie Dookhan out west.". There were also newspaper articles about other officials caught stealing drugs, including one with a scribbled note, "Thank god I'm not a law enforcement officer." The number is 888-999-2881. High Massachusetts Lab Chemist Causes Thousands Of Drug Cases To Be Dismissed. According to a Rolling Stone piece on Farak, she struggled with depression from an early age, one that hasnt responded to medication. They wrote that Farak attempted suicide in high school and was also hospitalized while in college. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. Farak had started taking drugs on the job within months of joining the lab. It was an astoundingly light touch for the second state chemist arrested in six months. "he didn't request a warrant. On another worksheet chronicling her struggle not to use, she described 12 of the next 13 samples assigned to her for testing as "urge-ful.". "It was almost like Dookhan wanted to get caught," one of her former co-workers told state police in 2012. wrote to the Attorney Generals Office two days later. At the very least, we expected that we would get everything they collected in their case against Farak. Flannery, now in private practice, said the substance abuse worksheets are clearly relevant to defendants challenging Faraks analysis. In November 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, and perjury. This story is an effort to reconstruct what was known about Farak and Dookhan's crimes, and when, based on court filings, diaries, and interviews with the major players. In fall 2013, a Springfield, Massachusetts, judge convened hearings with the explicit aim of establishing "the timing and scope" of Farak's "alleged criminal conduct.". Since the takeover, the budget for all forensic labs across the state has been increased, by around twenty-five per cent. Massachusetts crime lab scandal worsens: Dookhan and Farak. And yet, due to their actions, they did injure people and they did inflict a lot of pain, not just on a couple of people, but on thousands. Hearings could help decide how many of thousands of convictions tainted by Farak's testing may be overturned. In the only quasi-independent probe of the Farak scandal ever ordered, Attorney General Healey and a district attorney appointed two retired judges to investigate in summer 2015. TherapyNotes is a complete practice management system with everything you need to manage patient records, schedule appointments, meet with patients remotely, create rich documentation, and bill insurance, right at your fingertips. Investigators gave that information to Kaczmarek and the state AG's office,according tohearings before thestate board that disciplines attorneys. Each employee had a unique swipe card, but Farak simply used a physical key to get in after hours and on weekends. "We shouldn't be in the position of having to be saying, 'Don't close your eyes to the duration and scope of misconduct that may affect a whole lot of cases,'" the exasperated Massachusetts chief justice told prosecutors during oral arguments. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. Her notes record on-the-job drug use ranging from small nips of the lab's baseline standard stock of the stimulant phentermine to stealing crack not only from her own samples but from colleagues' as well. Carr weaves Farak's story into that of another Massachusetts chemist, Annie Dookhan, who worked across the state at the Hinton drug lab in Boston. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime . Widening scandal at state drug lab in Mass. exposes opportunities for Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015. Listen Live: Classic and Contemporary Celtic, Listen Live: Cape, Coast and Islands NPR Station, Boston nonprofit Street2Ivy is producing this generation's entrepreneurs. Inwardly though, Sonja Farak was striving. Massachusetts Chemist Prosecution Leads to Falling Consumer Confidence Finding that there did not appear to be enough slides in Dookhan's discard pile to match her numbers, the colleague brought his concerns to an outside attorney, who advised he should be careful making "accusations about a young woman's career," he later told state police. Kaczmarek argued before the BBO, and in response to Penate's lawsuit, that she was focused on prosecuting Farak and not defendants, like Penate, whose criminal cases were affected by Farak's misconduct. With the Dookhan case so fresh, reporters immediately labeled Farak "the second chemist. She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. Foster
Months after Farak pleaded guilty in January 2014, Ryan filed a
In court, she added that there was "no smoking gun" in the evidence. The staff in the new lab was also doubled, and the number of trainees was also increased. Although the year she wrote the notes wasnt listed on the worksheet, in the six years prior to her arrest, 2011 is the only year in which Dec. 22 fell on a Thursday. Farak struggled with mental health throughout her life, the documentary series explains. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. This was not true, as Nassif's department later conceded. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. 2. Where Is Sonja Farak Now? It features the true story of Sonja Farak, a former state drug lab chemist in Massachusetts who was arrested in 2013 for consuming the drugs she was supposed to test and tampering with the evidence to cover up her tracks. ", In 2004, her first full year at the lab, Dookhan reported analyzing approximately 700 samples per month. You can check your records electronically by following this link: https://icori.chs.state.ma.us. Two Massachusetts drug-testing laboratory technicians are caught tampering with and falsifying drug evidence, and prosecutors are reluctant to disclose the full extent of their criminal behavior. "Dookhan's consistently high testing volumes should have been a clear indication that a more thorough analysis and review of her work was needed," an internal review found. The Farak scandal came as the state grappled with another drug lab crisis. A judge sentenced Dookhan to three years in prison; she was granted parole in April 2016. Approximately one year later, she pled guilty to tampering with evidence, unlawful possession, and stealing narcotics. Asked for comment, Foster in January objected through an attorney that the judge never gave her an opportunity to defend herself and that his ruling left an "indelible stain on her reputation.". In June 2017, following hearings in which Kaczmarek, Foster, Verner, and others took the stand, a judge found that Kaczmarek and Foster together "piled misrepresentation upon misrepresentation to shield the mental health worksheets from disclosure.". "The need to inform defendants of government misconduct does not disappear when that misconduct was committed by a government lawyer as opposed to a government chemist.". In June 2011, Dookhan secretly took 90 samples out of an evidence locker and then forged a co-worker's initials to check them back in, a clear chain-of-custody breach. memo to Judge Kinder the next week, Foster said she reviewed the file, and said every document in it had already been disclosed. What Netflix's How To Fix a Drug Scandal didn't tell you - Esquire Kaczmarek has repeatedly testified she did not act intentionally and that she thought the worksheets had been turned over to the district attorneys who prosecuted the cases involved. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff A local prosecutor also asked Ballou to look into a case Farak had tested as far back as 2005. Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015 Her ar-rest led to the dismissal of thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts. "I would have done it": Filmmaker on indentifying with the "How to Fix Talking Politics: Should a new government agency protect the coastline from climate change? How to write better therapy progress notes: 10 examples According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions. Soon after Dookhan's arrest, Coakley's office asked the governor to order a broader independent probe of the Hinton lab. Penate alleged Kaczmarek's actions violated his "Brady rights," which require prosecutors to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to defense counsel. Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. Officials recognized the worksheets for what they were: near-indisputable confessions. Coakley's office finally launched a criminal investigation in July 2012, more than a year after the infraction was discovered by Dookhan's supervisors. compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. They never searched Farak's computer or her home. As Kaczmarek herself later observed, Farak essentially had "a drugstore at her disposal" from her first day at the Amherst lab. Still, the state was acquiring evidence. Foster said that Kaczmarek told her all relevant evidence had been turned over and that her supervisor told her to write the letter, though both denied these claims. Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Sonja Farak is the subject of Netflix's "How To Fix a Drug Scandal. From the March 2019 issue, "Tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing," the forensic chemist scribbled on a diary worksheet she kept as part of her substance abuse therapy. "Going to use phentermine," she wrote on another, "but when I went to take it, I saw how little (v. little) there is left = ended up not using. Democratic Gov. Without even interviewing Foster, they determined there was "no evidence" of obstruction of justice by her, by Kaczmarek, or by any state prosecutor. This is merely a fishing expedition, Foster wrote in
With the lab's ample drug supply, she was able to sneak the drug each day from a jug that resided in the shared workspace. She was struggling to suppress mental health issues, depression in particular, and she tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. Many more are likely to follow, with the total expected to exceed 50,000. Meanwhile, other top prosecutors, including Coakley, largely escaped criticism for their collective failure to hand over evidence that they were bound by constitutional mandate to share with defendants. TherapyNotes Nassif put Dookhan on desk duty but allowed her to finish testing cases already on her plate, including some of the samples she had taken from the locker. email highlighted in the Velis-Merrigan report. Faraks wife had her own mental health problems, and according to Rolling Stone, Farak would have conflict with her wife every night at home. Gov. Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. The Attorney Generals Office, Velis and Merrigan and the state police declined to answer questions about the handling of the Farak evidence. They were all rendered unacceptable. They pulled her aside as she walked back to the courthouse from her car, where she had smoked "a fair amount of crack" during her lunch break. Farak also had an apparent obsession for her therapists husband, as she was reported to have a folder that shed put together about him, documenting her obsession. To better estimate how many convictions will have to be reviewed because of Farak, the Supreme Judicial Court
The fact that she ran analyses while high and regularly dipped into samples casts doubt on thousands of convictions. The drug lab technician was sent to prison for 18 months, but was released in 2015. One colleague called her the "super woman of the lab. Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug Judge dismisses 'qualified immunity' claim in suit against ex - WBUR Penate's suit said Kaczmarek withheld evidence that Farak used drugs at the lab for longer than the Massachusetts attorney general's office first claimed, and that he would not have been imprisoned based on tainted evidence. Between Farak and Dookhanwho's also featured in How to Fix a Drug Scandal38,000 wrongfully convicted cases have been dismissed, according to the Washington Post. From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion Lets find out. Faraks notes also
In worksheet notes dated Thursday, Dec. 22, Farak wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." Although the year she wrote the notes wasn't listed . "A forensic analyst responding to a request from a law enforcement official may feel pressureor have an incentiveto alter the evidence in a manner favorable to the prosecution.". The premise revolves around documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr following the effects of crime drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan and their tampering with evidence and its aftereffects.. Dookhan was accused of forging reports and tampering with samples to . Between 2005 and 2013, Sonja Farak was performing laboratory tests at a state drug lab in Amherst while under the influence of narcotics. Netflix released a new docu-series called "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." Massachusetts prosecutors withheld evidence of corrupt state narcotics testing for months from a defendant facing drug charges, and didnt release it until after his conviction, according to newly surfaced documents and emails. She soon crossed all these lines. Out of "an abundance of caution," Kaczmarek didn't present them to the grand jury that was convened to determine whether to indict Farak. It ultimately took a blatant violation to expose Dookhan, and even then her bosses twisted themselves in knots to hold on to their "super woman.". | | The medical records stated that she did not have an existing drug problem that was amplified by her access to more substances. NORTHAMPTON Sonja J. Farak told a nurse at the Western Massachusetts (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). She was trying to suppress mental health issues, depression in specific, and she attempted to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. noted the mental health worksheets found in Faraks car, which had not been released. This not only led to people getting a reprieve from prison but also filing their own lawsuits against the injustice they had to suffer. The Amherst lab had called state police when the two missing samples were noticed in 2013. Since then, she has kept a low profile. She's no longer in prison, as Farak has served her sentence. She was ar-rested for tampering with evidence while abusing narcotics at work. The latest true crime offering from Netflix is the documentary series "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." It dives into the story of Sonja Farak, a chemist who worked for a Massachusetts state drug. Most of the heat for thisincluding formal bar complaintshas fallen on Kaczmarek and another former prosecutor, Kris Foster, who was tasked with responding to subpoenas regarding the Farak evidence. And yet, despite explicit requests for this kind of evidence, state prosecutors withheld Farak's handwritten notes about her drug use, theft, and evidence tampering from defense attorneys and a judge for more than a year. It didnt matter whether or not she was the one who did the testing or some other chemist. She had been accused of intentional infliction of emotional distress in addition to the conspiracy to violate [Penates] civil rights.. Foster replied that because the investigation against Farak was ongoing, she couldnt let him see it. Thanks to Farak's testimony and those diary worksheets, we now know that, soon after joining the Amherst lab in 2004, Farak started skimming from the methamphetamine "standard," an undiluted oil used as a reference against which suspected meth samples are compared. Gioia called for evidentiary hearings so prosecutors can be asked about what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did with their knowledge., Luke Ryan, Penates trial lawyer, said that the state police officers working on the report failed to obtain an appropriate understanding of the events that transpired before they were assigned to this investigation.". From 2004 to 2013, Farak took advantage of . Name. Farak was getting high off the confiscated drugs police sent her way before replacing the evidence with fake drugs. Two weeks after Ryans discovery, the Attorney Generals Office
Dookhan's transgressions got more press attention: Her story broke first, she immediately confessed, and her misdeeds took place in big-city Boston rather than the western reaches of the state. She received the American Institute of Chemists Award in her final year as well as a Crimson and Gray Award from the school a year before, which recognized her dedication, commitment and unselfishness in the enrichment of student life at WPI. A Rolling Stone piece on Farak also indicated that she graduated with high distinction from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The judge ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to coordinate on identifying undisclosed emails related to documents seized from the disgraced state crime lab chemist. It's been like this forever, or at least since girlhood. One reason that didn't happen, he says: "the determination Coakley and her team made the morning after Farak's arrest that her misconduct did not affect the due process rights of any Farak defendants." Disgraced drug lab chemist Sonja Farak emerges as her own attorney as defendant in $5.7 million federal lawsuit. Sonja Farak in How to Fix a Drug Scandal. Terms Of Use, (Annie Dookhan (left) and Sonja Farak, Associated Press). But unlike with Dookhan, no one launched a bigger investigation of Farak. She started smoking crack cocaine in 2011 and was soon using it 10 to 12 times a day. Where Are How to Fix a Drug Scandal's Sonja Farak and Kris - Decider She consumed meth, crack cocaine, amphetamines, and LSD at the bench where she tested samples, in a lab bathroom, and even at courthouses where she was testifying. Despite such unequivocal findings of misconduct, the court removed language about Kaczmarek and Foster from notification letters to those whose cases have been dismissed, which will be sent out in early 2019. Join us. Coakley did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Sonja Farak, la qumica que tomaba drogas que registraba - Ahoramismo.com The four years since Ryan discovered Farak's diaries have been a bitter fight over this question of culpabilitywhether Kaczmarek, Foster, and their colleagues were merely careless or whether they deliberately hid crucial evidence. Yet Dookhan's brazen crimes went undetected for ages. "That was one of the lines I had thought I would never cross: I wouldn't tamper with evidence, I wouldn't smoke crack, and then I wouldn't touch other people's work," Farak said. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. How to Fix a Drug Scandal (TV Mini Series 2020) - IMDb Cleverly omitting pronouns, she wrote that "after reviewing" the file, "every documenthas been disclosed." Read More: Where is Sonja Farak Sister Now? In Sonja Farak drug lab scandal, Mass - The Washington Post But why were a small handful of prosecutors allowed total control over evidence about one of the worst criminal justice failures in recent memory? | 3.3.2023 5:30 PM, Joe Lancaster "I suspect that if another entity was in the mix"perhaps the inspector general or an independent investigator"the Attorney General's Office would have treated the Farak case much more seriously and would have been much more reluctant to hide the ball," Ryan writes in an email. But in a
If chemists had to testify in person, Coakley warned melodramatically, misdemeanor drug prosecutions "would essentially grind to a halt. When Farak was arrested,former Attorney General Martha Coakley told the public investigators believed Farak tampered with drugs at the lab for only a few months. Farak worked for the Amherst Drug Lab in Massachusetts for 9 years when she was convicted of stealing and using them.