Mass. High Court Justice Dismisses More 'Dookhan Cases'

Another group of drug cases tied to a state drug lab scandal will be dismissed.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Frank Gaziano ruled Friday that more than 100 drug convictions should be vacated because they were based on evidence tested by former chemist Annie Dookhan.

In 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to misconduct while she worked as a chemist at the Hinton lab. Tens of thousands of drug cases have been dismissed because of that.

Gaziano's ruling says because of the "extraordinary circumstances involving Dookhan's wide-ranging misconduct," retrying the cases "would needlessly further expend prosecutorial, CPCS ( Committee for Public Counsel Services), and judicial resources, as well as taxpayer funds."

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed a motion asking the high court to vacate and dismiss with prejudice some of the drug convictions that a prior district attorney did not seek to dismiss. Those cases were identified by prosecutors as ones they said they could retry and prove that an illegal substance was involved — regardless of Dookhan's testing.

Rollins said more than 70% of these so-called "list three" cases involved people of color convicted of drug crimes based on faulty testing.

"Those drug offenses — based on tainted evidence — have strained prosecutorial, public defender, and court resources," Rollins said in an emailed statement." This decision finally stops the collateral consequences of the criminal misconduct by a disgraced chemist and the complete and utter mismanagement of the Hinton Lab.”

Rollins said her office will continue to work on vacating convictions that were based on all testing at the Hinton lab, not just tests done by Dookhan. Former chemist Sonya Farak, who was convicted in 2014 of misconduct for her work at the state lab in Amherst, also worked at the Hinton lab.

"Today’s decision is a step toward justice, but we still have a long road ahead,” Rollins said. “The Hinton Lab was so grossly mismanaged that we cannot have confidence in any of the testing performed at the site, tainting every drug conviction the lab was involved in. As we celebrate this victory, we must continue the work that we have started to correct the enormous harm that has been and continues to be inflicted.”