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[Pickman]

Full Story Here

Prosecutors in eight counties around Boston revealed Tuesday that they would dismiss 21,587 drug cases tainted by the misconduct of Massachusetts state drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan over a period of eight years, although nearly all of those convicted in her cases have already served their sentences.

The state public defender service and the American Civil Liberties Union said that individually re-litigating 24,000 cases, with 20,000 defendants, would be both overwhelming to the state’s defense bar and pointless in light of what they called an unfair and ineffective war on drugs. So the Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, came up with a solution, after declaring Dookhan’s deeds “government misconduct that has cast a shadow over the entire criminal justice system.” The court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, also acknowledged the ongoing impact of drug convictions on defendants’ abilities to find housing, jobs or financial aid.

Some “‘Dookhan defendants” served several years in prison, and though they are now freed, “they continued to suffer the harsh collateral consequences of their tainted convictions,” including immigration status for some, said lawyer Daniel Marx, whose firm also represented the Dookhan defendants. “Now, a majority of these wrongfully convicted individuals will have the opportunity to clear their records and move on with their lives.”

This is an absolutely huge verdict. It's sickening that so many lives could be ruined because of one person's narcissistic need to stand out above her peers and pass judgement on people.

 

[sixteen-bit]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1361745

 

[Smellycat]

wtf

hit her with the combined sentence of all the convicts

 

[Pickman]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1361745

 

[winjet81]

That's a whole lot of lawsuits the state could be facing.

 

[sixteen-bit]

wtf

hit her with the combined sentence of all the convicts

try 3-5 years

 

[SocksAndShoes]

and yet we have many Americans who strongly believe the death penalty is a good thing and that our criminal justice system is doing just fine...smh.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

So fucked up. And yet another reason why the war on drugs is completely worthless. We're locking up hundreds of thousands of people for things that shouldn't be illegal.

 

[Jacce]

wtf

hit her with the combined sentence of all the convicts

She was convicted in 2013 with a 3-5 year sentence, only served a fraction of it and has been out of jail on parole for a while now.

try 3-5 years

She's already out of jail. Convicted late Nov 2013. Completed her sentence and released March 2016.

 

[LoserMakesGood]

This is great and all, too bad most of these peoples lives have already been ruined. The stigma is already there and it's a tough one to shake.