2015/01/09

ABC News January 8, 2015: Thousands of Drug Convictions at Stake in Massachusetts Case

None of the tens of thousands of defendants convicted of drug crimes after a chemist in a Massachusetts lab tampered with evidence should face the possibility of a harsher sentence if they seek a new trial, the American Civil Liberties Union argued Thursday.

The case before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court involves Annie Dookhan, a drug lab chemist who was sentenced in 2013 to at least three years in prison after admitting she faked test results.

ACLU lawyer Matthew Segal said many "Dookhan defendants" are afraid of asking a judge to vacate their guilty pleas in order to seek a new trial because under state law, they can be prosecuted for crimes that had been dropped when they entered their original plea deal.

"They are afraid, and with good reason," said Segal, the legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts.

The ACLU estimates over 40,000 convictions are linked with the drug lab scandal, but prosecutors suggested the number that would ultimately seek to have their convictions overturned is much lower.

Lawyers for the Suffolk and Essex County District Attorney's offices opposed the ACLU's request, saying it is hypothetical and not yet appropriate for review by the court. They also rejected the argument that prosecutors would seek to "punish" defendants who seek new trials. more