Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Annie Dookhan: Development; Civil suit filed. It alleges that she violated Jeffrey Solomon's constitutional rights by falsifying evidence - failing to conduct scientific tests on "cocaine" seized by police. Reuters.


STORY: "Accused Massachusetts crime lab chemist faces civil suit," by reporter Daniel Lovering, published by Reuters on February 4, 2013.

GIST: "A Massachusetts man who was indicted on drug charges filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court on Monday against a former state crime lab chemist, who stands accused of falsifying evidence in as many as 34,000 cases. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Jeffrey Solomon accused criminal laboratory chemist Annie Dookhan, 35, of violating his constitutional rights by falsifying the results of chemical tests performed on substances seized when he was arrested by Boston police in December 2010. The lawsuit contends that Dookhan did not conduct any tests on the substance.
Solomon, of Boston, was arrested with a substance he told police was counterfeit cocaine, according to the lawsuit. "Dookhan conducted no scientific testing on the substances... Dookhan falsely recorded that the substances tested positive for cocaine," the suit alleges. Dookhan, whom prosecutors have charged with evidence tampering, determined the substance Solomon was carrying was real cocaine. Prosecutors have charged Dookhan with visually identifying samples taken from suspects without doing the proper chemical testing. Investigators last year said they had identified some 10,000 people convicted or accused of crimes based on evidence handled by Dookhan, 35, who was arrested in September."

 The entire story can be found at:

http://news.yahoo.com/massachusetts-crime-lab-chemist-pleads-not-guilty-sixth-185756434.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.


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