And yet, due to their actions, they did injure people and they did inflict a lot of pain, not just on a couple of people, but on thousands. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at GBH, Transparency in Coverage Cost-Sharing Disclosures. Asked for comment, Foster in January objected through an attorney that the judge never gave her an opportunity to defend herself and that his ruling left an "indelible stain on her reputation.". After serving for 13 months, she was released on parole in 2015. Cleverly omitting pronouns, she wrote that "after reviewing" the file, "every documenthas been disclosed." The show also delves into the issues of the state in discovering and reporting on the extent of the cases that were affected by Faraks actions. Her role was to test for the presence of illegal substances, which could be instrumental in thousands of . wrote to the Attorney Generals Office two days later. Despite clear indications that Farak used a variety of narcoticsher worksheets mentioned phentermine, and that vial of powdered oxycodone-acetaminophen had been found at her benchKaczmarek also proceeded as if crack cocaine were Farak's sole drug. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. In court, she added that there was "no smoking gun" in the evidence. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. For years, Sonja Farak was addicted to cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamines, the kind of drugs usually bought from street dealers in covert transactions that carry the constant risk of arrest. "First, of course, are the defendants, who when charged in the criminal justice system have the right to expect that they will be given due process and there will be fair and accurate information used in any prosecution against them." The defense bar had raised concerns that prosecutors might be "perceived as having a stake" in such an investigation. They were found with their packaging sliced open and their contents apparently altered. It contained substances often used to make counterfeit cocaine, including soap, baking soda, candle wax, and modeling clay, plus lab dishes, wax paper, and fragments of a crack pipe. another filing. Thank you! Even as they filed numerous motions for information about how long Farak had been using drugs, the defense attorneys had no idea these worksheets existed. According to an Attorney General Offices report, Farak attended Temple University in Philadelphia for graduate school, which is where she became a recreational drug user. Investigators found that Sonja Farak tested drug samples and testified in court while under the influence of methamphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and other drugs between 2005 and 2013. In 2009, Farak branched out to the lab's amphetamine, phentermine, and cocaine standards. Hearings could help decide how many of thousands of convictions tainted by Farak's testing may be overturned. memo to Judge Kinder the next week, Foster said she reviewed the file, and said every document in it had already been disclosed. Though. Support GBH. Lab's standards on a fairly regular basis beginning in late 2004 or early 2005," the attorney general's report notes in launching its recounting of the chemist's drug-taking journey . Would love your thoughts, please comment. Carr weaves Farak's story into that of another Massachusetts chemist, Annie Dookhan, who worked across the state at the Hinton drug lab in Boston. Process Notes/Psychotherapy Notes Process notes are sometimes also referred to as psychotherapy notesthey're the notes you take during or after a session. The criminal prosecution wasn't the only investigation of the Dookhan scandal. And both pose the obvious question about how chemists could behave so badly for years without detection. According to the documents released Tuesday, investigators found that Sonja Farak tested drug samples and testified in court while under the influence of methamphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, LSD . From the March 2019 issue, "Tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing," the forensic chemist scribbled on a diary worksheet she kept as part of her substance abuse therapy. It's been like this forever, or at least since girlhood. Penate's lawsuit, which seeks $5.7 million in damages, is believed to be one of the last remaining suits tied to the scandals; the statute of limitations to file such suits has expired. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus five years of probation. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. Where Is Sonja Farak Now? Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. Obviously, after a blunder of such scale, no one would want their samples checked from the same lab. Psychotherapy Progress Notes, as shown above, can be populated using clinical codes before they are linked with a client's appointments for easier admin and use in sessions. She also starting dipping into police-submitted samples, a "whole other level of morality," as Farak called it during a fall 2015 special grand jury session. They say court records and newly released emails show prosecutors sat on evidence they were familiar with that pointed to Faraks drug use in 2011, when she worked on Penates case. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. Over time, Farak's drug use turned to cocaine, LSD and, eventually, crack. | In the aftermath of Farak's arrest, it's been argued that because she was under the influence, all of the cases she tested could be considered to have been wrongfully convicted. Regarding the cases that she had handled, the Massachusetts courts threw out every case in the Amherst lab during her tenure. Foster consulted Kaczmarek about the files contents, according to an
", Prosecutors maintained that Faraks rogue behavior spanned just a few months. State police took these worksheets from Farak's car in January 2013, the same day they arrested her for tampering with evidence and for cocaine possession. In December 2011, after police in Springfield, Mass., had arrested Renaldo Penate for allegedly selling heroin, the drugs from that case were tested at a state drug lab by technician Sonja Farak. 3.3.2023 5:30 PM, Joe Lancaster YouTube State prosecutors gave Farak the immunity they had declined to grant two years earlier, then asked when she started analyzing samples while high. Poetically, that landmark case originated from the Hinton lab, although Dookhan didn't conduct the analysis in question. The Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) is reviewing the actions of three prosecutors in the investigation of the scandal to determine whether any of them deliberately withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Instead, Coakley's office served as gatekeeper to evidence that could have untangled the scandal and freed thousands of people from prison and jail years earlier, or at least wiped their improper convictions off the books. Gov. The former judges and the state police officers who helped them conducted a thorough review, said Emalie Gainey, spokeswoman for Attorney General Maura Healey. When she got married, it turned out that her wife, too, suffered from her own demons, and their collective anguish made Sonja desperate for a reprieve from this life. Farak wasn't the first Massachusetts chemist to tamper with drug evidence. Shawn Musgrave Sonja Farak (Netflix) An ex-lab chemist Sonja Farak's negligence and misdeeds shocked US when she was arrested in 2013 for stealing and using drugs from the lab where she worked. Initially, she had represented herself in answer to the complaints lodged against her, but later, she turned to Susan Sachs, who represented her since, not just on the Penate lawsuit, but also on any other case that emerged as the result of her actions in Amherst. More than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases tainted by former state chemist Sonja Farak have been dismissed in a court case brought by the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Committee of Public Counsel Services (CPCS), and law firm Fick & Marx LLP. Reporting for this story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Foster, now general counsel at the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and Kaczmarek, now a clerk magistrate in Suffolk Superior Court, declined to comment for this story. The hotline is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. With the lab's ample drug supply, she was able to sneak the drug each day from a jug that resided in the shared workspace. Faraks notes also
answered that the state considered the evidence irrelevant to any case other than Faraks.. There is no allegation of misconduct against the local prosecutors who presented the case against Penate in Hampden County Superior Court. The state's top court took an even harsher view, ruling in October 2018 that the attorney general's office as an institution was responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct of its former employees. She stopped the interview when asked about crack pipes found at her bench, and state police towed her car back to barracks while they waited on a warrant. Verner, who testified that he didn't "micromanage" Kaczmarek, escaped criticism. The results of that intake interview and notes from several of Farak's therapists all detailing Farak's drug use going back years were obtained by defense attorneys on behalf of . Her medical records included notes from Faraks therapist in Amherst, Anna Kogan. Kaczmarek has repeatedly testified she did not act intentionally and that she thought the worksheets had been turned over to the district attorneys who prosecuted the cases involved. This was not true, as Nassif's department later conceded. Gainey added that Healey is pleased with their conclusion that prosecutors and the state police acted appropriately. 3.3.2023 5:45 PM, Jacob Sullum Several defense attorneys who called for the Velis-Merrigan investigation say the former judges and their state police investigators got it wrong. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. Her answer: more than eight years before her arrest. With your support, GBH will continue to innovate, inspire and connect through reporting you value that meets todays moments. B. ut when Penates lawyer tried to obtain the documents not certain what was in them before his clients 2013 trial, he was rebuffed by state prosecutors who said the papers were irrelevant according to emails included in investigative reports unsealed earlier this month. This very well could have been the end of the investigative trail but for a few stubborn defense lawyers, who appealed the ruling. "No reasonablejury could conclude that this evidence is not favorable.". Most important, they found seven worksheets from Farak's substance abuse therapy. Farak. The Farak documents indicate she used drugs on the very day she certified samples as heroin in Penates case. From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion Deval Patrick's office didn't learn about the protocol breach until December 2011. Another worksheet had the month and weekdays for December 2011, which police easily could have determined by cross-referencing holidays or looking up a New England Patriots game mentioned in one entry. She was arrested in 2013 when the supervisor at the Amherst lab was made aware that two samples were missing. She recovered, made it through college and got a job as a chemist at the Amherst Crime Lab, where she tested confiscated drugs. Where is Sonja now? Thus, only defendants whose evidence she tested in the six-month window before her arrest could challenge their cases. Her notes record on-the-job drug use ranging from small nips of the lab's baseline standard stock of the stimulant phentermine to stealing crack not only from her own samples but from colleagues' as well. denied Penates motion to dismiss the case, saying there was no evidence that Faraks misconduct extended to his case. Robertson rejected Kaczmarek's claims she should not be held responsible for the turning over of exculpatory evidence because she was not part of the "prosecution team" in Penate's case. Farak saw Kogan in 2009 and 2010, and her therapist wrote: She obtains the drugs from her job at the state drug lab, by taking portions of samples that have come in to be tested., Kogan also wrote that Farak told her she had taken methamphetamines at another lab in an old job, but she didnt get much from it. Kogan wrote that after moving to western [Massachusetts] for her job at the state drug lab, [Farak] tried it again and really liked it. She started working shortly after for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in July 2003 until July 2012, and from July 2012 until January 2013 for the Massachusetts State Police when the lab fell under their jurisdiction. She was ar-rested for tampering with evidence while abusing narcotics at work. When the Farak scandal erupted, that misconduct came into view.
Punting River 3 Letters,
Articles S