Crime lab scandal could affect 10,000 cases.
Massachusetts - The state’s public defender agency estimates it could need up to $332 million to represent thousands of people who faced criminal penalties or civil sanctions based on evidence potentially tainted at the now-closed state drug laboratory in Jamaica Plain.
The Committee for Public Counsel Services developed the budget projection as it seeks money from the Patrick administration to deal with the fallout from the drug lab scandal linked to chemist Annie Dookhan, who allegedly told State Police she falsified results.
The scale of the scandal came into sharper focus Tuesday when the attorney leading a state investigation into the drug lab, ordered by Governor Deval Patrick, provided the latest figures on how many people might be affected.
Boston attorney David Meier said his team has identified at least 10,000 people so far who were prosecuted based on drug testing conducted by Dookhan during the nine years she worked at the Department of Public Health lab.
Meier stressed that even more people could be affected because his team has not completed its inquiry into prosecutions in the district court and the Boston Municipal Court system, where most drug cases are prosecuted in the state’s criminal justice system.
Lisa Hewitt, general counsel for the agency, said the $332 million is an estimate that assumes each of the 190,000 cases handled at the lab since 2003 would have to be litigated and that an attorney would have to be assigned to represent each defendant. Hewitt said many of the cases could be resolved if prosecutors chose to dismiss the charges.
“This is the worst-case scenario,’’ Hewitt said. “. . . We do not want this to come to pass. But we do believe it is in our scope of responsibility to find these clients.’’
Hewitt said the public defender agency, when required by law, will represent indigent clients in probate and family court, where they have lost, or may lose, parental rights because of what may be declared unlawful convictions. Spending on those cases would be in addition to the $332 million, she said.
“There are a lot of really, really massive problems with this situation,’’ Hewitt said.
Also Tuesday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, the incoming president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said prosecutors have finalized their budget request and believe they need $12.7 million for more prosecutors, support staff, and in some cases, office space and computers, for all Dookhan-related cases.
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/11/27/official-says-state-lab-scandal-has-impacted-people-probe-expand/6mXSB6blIIgkq5oXaMVzXM/story.html
Police say Hurricane Sandy damaged or destroyed evidence in numerous criminal cases.
New York - Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Tuesday that facilities used for storing evidence in criminal cases suffered flooding during Hurricane Sandy.
“In some of our storage locations we have evidence that has been damaged,” Mr. Kelly told reporters Tuesday morning. “Significant flooding has taken place, no question about it.”
The damaged evidence may include DNA samples, he said.
Mr. Kelly said the property clerk facilities that experienced flooding were in Brooklyn, and at least one is in the Greenpoint neighborhood. It was not immediately clear whether the evidence at issue was being stored for use in pending prosecutions, or was in storage following convictions.
“We’re still trying to sort through this and assess the total damage,” he said.
Mr. Kelly said the damage to the evidence could potentially affect the outcome of individual criminal cases. “We’ll see,” he said.
Prosecutors say they are concerned that the damage to evidence stored at the Erie Basin and Kingsland facilities, both located in Brooklyn, could affect ongoing cases.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/police-say-storm-damaged-evidence/?goback=.gmp_1829117.gde_1829117_member_190531327