"Coakley takes tough stand on Dookhan sentence" by Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, October 18, 2013
Prosecutors want former state chemist Annie Dookhan to spend up to seven years in prison for allegedly mishandling drug samples and obstructing justice in a devastating scandal that has called into question thousands of cases and marred the integrity of the criminal justice system in Massachusetts.
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office filed the request in response to an order from Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball seeking sentencing recommendations from the prosecution and defense ahead of a conference scheduled for Friday “regarding a possible change of plea” in the case, records show.
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John Cunha, a Boston lawyer and a former president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Thursday that while Dookhan’s conduct was “outrageous,” he believes she is being scapegoated.
“What’s happening to the supervisors who didn’t seem to make any inquires when she was handling twice, three times as many cases as anybody else?” Cunha said. “They were happy with the convictions. And now that it’s all been revealed, they want to make her the scapegoat, so they can tell the public, ‘we took care of the rogue.’ ”
He's got a point there.
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Related: “You know there’s a problem when the guy who is supposed to be in charge has a bag of crack on his desk for no apparent reason.”
I suppose that is why no questions were being asked.
"Annie Dookhan’s attorney pushes for 1-year sentence; Ex-drug lab chemist says her life has been destroyed" by John R. Ellement and Martin Finucane | Globe Staff, October 19, 2013
Annie Dookhan, the former chemist whose alleged misdeeds have freed hundreds of convicted drug dealers and cost taxpayers million of dollars, was driven to taint evidence by her desire to stand out at work, not because she was “black-hearted,” her lawyer said in court Friday.
Who cares what the reason was? She destroyed lives so she could be a suck-ass brown-noser.
Dookhan’s motivation for deliberately mishandling evidence at the now-closed Department of Public Health lab in Boston was a key issue raised during a hearing in Suffolk Superior Court, where Dookhan may soon plead guilty to 27 criminal charges, including eight counts of tampering with evidence.
Superior Court Judge Carol Ball, citing the erosion in public confidence caused by the drug lab scandal, held what is usually a closed-door lobby conference in open court, where Dookhan’s lawyer, Nicolas A. Gordon, argued that Dookhan should spend no more than one year in prison.
“Her motivation [was] to be the hardest working and most prolific and most productive chemist that she can possibly be, and that’s how this whole mess begins,” Gordon told the judge. “There is absolutely no malicious or black-hearted or evil criminal intent to be found anywhere in this case.’’
Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek told Ball that the extent of harm Dookhan did to individual citizens, the criminal justice system overall, and the public demands a much longer time behind bars, and she urged the judge to impose a five- to seven-year prison sentence. She estimated that Dookhan’s actions would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to rectify.
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Speaking from the bench, Ball said it appeared to her that Dookhan was “somebody with low self-esteem who was trying to make themselves look cool.” She added, however, that even if that was the case, it did not excuse her actions.
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Gordon told the judge that Dookhan was “a shell of her former self” whose “life has been destroyed.” He said her husband has left her and is living with another woman, and she has a 7-year-old disabled son with a medical condition.
Not to be unsympathetic; however, she destroyed a lot of lives and relationships with her actions. As for the kid, that never factored into her ass-kissing criminality, did it? If anything that got here dropped from great health insurance. How did that help her son?
Dookhan is the center of the boy’s universe, and she fears being separated from him, said Gordon. Tears rolled down Dookhan’s face as the lawyer spoke about her relationship with her son....
How many fathers and mothers did she take away from theirs with her false testimonies?
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I'm sorry, folks, but I have no more sympathy for lying state shitters.
Related:
Annie Dookhan may get 5 years in prison with guilty plea
Still not enough.
Annie Dookhan sets date for change of plea
Sunday Globe Special: Dookhan's Drug Relapse
Man freed because of drug lab scandal arrested again
‘Dookhan defendant’ rearrested
They will get you all back in there eventually.
Also see: Drug Addict Worked at State Drug Lab
She wasn't alone (hiccup):
"Former state chemist charged with drunken driving" by Melissa Hanson | Globe Correspondent, October 18, 2013
A former state chemist was released on personal recognizance Friday, two days after she allegedly rear-ended and injured a pregnant woman in Revere while driving with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit, prosecutors said.
That's smashed!
Hevis Lleshi, 31, of Quincy, was arraigned in Chelsea District Court Friday on charges of operating under the influence. She had a not-guilty plea entered on her behalf and was ordered to remain free of drugs and alcohol, not drive, and to submit to random testing.
Lleshi is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial conference Oct. 31, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said.
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Lleshi had worked as a chemist in the Department of Public Health’s Hinton Laboratory in Jamaica Plain, the statement said. The lab is also where Annie Dookhan, a former state chemist charged with mishandling evidence that could affect thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts, used to work.
Now we know why she was drinking. Place has been closed because of Dookhan. She cost people their jobs.
Revere police who arrived at the accident scene reported finding Lleshi behind the wheel of her car. She allegedly had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol and told officers she did not know what happened but did admit to having three alcoholic beverages that day, said District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office.
Lleshi was administered sobriety tests at the scene. She allegedly could not walk in a straight line or follow the tip of a pen with her eyes, Conley’s office said.
She also told police that she knew the alphabet, citing her education at Boston University, but never recited it, prosecutors said.
Lleshi was placed under arrest and brought to the Revere police station, where she agreed to a breath-alcohol test, which registered at .24, the statement said. The legal limit in Massachusetts is 0.08.
Lleshi also told officers she had been at Suffolk Superior Court prior to having drinks at a bar. Officers could find no record of her being at the court, the statement said.
What, did she think that would get her off and the police let her go?
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