Defense attorneys had. Because she did so, Plaintiff served more than five years in a state prison.". In an August 2013 email, Ryan asked Assistant Attorney General Kris Foster to review evidence taken from Farak. Several defense attorneys who called for the Velis-Merrigan investigation say the former judges and their state police investigators got it wrong. She was arrested in 2013 when the supervisor at the Amherst lab was made aware that two samples were missing. Gainey added that Healey is pleased with their conclusion that prosecutors and the state police acted appropriately. The twin Massachusetts drug lab scandals are unprecedented in the sheer number of cases thrown out because of forensic misconduct. Coakley did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Inwardly though, Sonja Farak was striving. One was clearly dated November 16, 2011a year and two months before her arrest. The defense bar also demanded answers on how such crucial evidence stayed buried for so long. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. In Farak's car, police found a "works kit"crack cocaine, a spatula, and copper mesh, often used as a pipe filter. The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. While Dookhan had tampered with evidence and indulged in dry-labbing, Farak stole from her workplace. 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. motion with Hampden Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Kinder to see the evidence for himself. Disgraced drug lab chemist Sonja Farak emerges as her own attorney as defendant in $5.7 million federal lawsuit. Given the account that Farak was a law-abiding citizen, it is questioned as to how an 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. The governor didn't appoint the inspector general or anyone else to determine how long Farak was altering samples or running analyses while high. Verner's "marching orders," he later testified, were to prosecute Farak with "what was in front of us, the car, things that were readily apparent. Meier put the number at 40,323 defendants, though some have called that an overestimate. A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month. Chemist Sonja Farak pleaded guilty to "tampering with evidence" back in 2014 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Scalia may as well have been describing Dookhan. Penate was convicted in December 2013 and sentenced to serve five to seven years. "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." Many more are likely to follow, with the total expected to exceed 50,000. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. In June 2011, Dookhan secretly took 90 samples out of an evidence locker and then forged a co-worker's initials to check them back in, a clear chain-of-custody breach. The judge ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to coordinate on identifying undisclosed emails related to documents seized from the disgraced state crime lab chemist. 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. As extensively detailed in How to Fix a Drug Scandal, Farak was arrested on January 19, 2013. Dookhan's transgressions got more press attention: Her story broke first, she immediately confessed, and her misdeeds took place in big-city Boston rather than the western reaches of the state. To better estimate how many convictions will have to be reviewed because of Farak, the Supreme Judicial Court Her reporting focuses on mental health, criminal justice and education. food banks expect a surge, As streaming services boom, cable TV continues its decline. "It was almost like Dookhan wanted to get caught," one of her former co-workers told state police in 2012. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Scott Allen. But she worried they might be privileged as health information. Sonja Farak was a chemist at a state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, from 2005 to 2013. She was struggling to suppress mental health issues, depression in particular, and she tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. In her June 17 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson dismissed former Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek's claims of qualified immunity a doctrine that gives legal immunity to some public officials accused of misconduct. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. In fall 2013, a Springfield, Massachusetts, judge convened hearings with the explicit aim of establishing "the timing and scope" of Farak's "alleged criminal conduct.". Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. She played as the starting guard for Portsmouth High Schools freshman team. Farak signed a certification of drug samples in Penate's case on Dec. 22, 2011. The lax security and regulations of the place and the negligent supervision of the employees and the stock of standards are the reasons why Farak was encouraged to do what she did. Instead, Kaczmarek provided copies to Farak's own attorney and asked that all evidence from Farak's car, including the worksheets, be kept away from prying defense attorneys representing the thousands of people convicted of drug crimes based on Farak's work. | The report Foster's first stepper ethical obligations and office protocolshould have been to look through the evidence to see what had already been handed over. Who is Sonja Farak? Even before her arrest, the Department of Public Health had launched an internal inquiry into how such misconduct had gone undetected for such a long time. Biden Embraces the Fearmongering, Vows To Squash D.C.'s Mild Criminal Justice Reforms, The Flap Over Biden's Comment About 2 Fentanyl Deaths Obscures Prohibition's Role in Causing Them, Conservatives Turn Further Against WarExcept Maybe With Mexico. Why did she do that and where has it left her? Farak was getting high off the confiscated drugs police sent her way before replacing the evidence with fake drugs. It had no surveillance cameras, laughable security on evidence safes, and "laissez faire" management, which the state inspector general determined was the "most glaring factor that led to the Dookhan crisis. Kaczmarek was now juggling two scandals on opposite sides of the state. The hotline is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 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. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. Earlier that day, a chemist at the Amherst drug lab had tracked two samples that were missing from the evidence locker to Sonja Farak's bench. 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. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. Release year: 2020. 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. The information showed that Farak sought therapy for drug addiction and that her misconduct had been ongoing for years. He was floored when he found the worksheets. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition. Kaczmarek argued before the BBO, and in response to Penate's lawsuit, that she was focused on prosecuting Farak and not defendants, like Penate, whose criminal cases were affected by Farak's misconduct. 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. Over time, Farak's drug use turned to cocaine, LSD and, eventually, crack. Sonja Farak worked as a chemist for the state of Massachusetts, specializing in identifying illegal substances. After weeks of hearings, a "special hearing officer" selected by the board recommended potential sanctions against them all. "Thousands of defendants were kept in the dark for far too long about the government misconduct in their cases," the ACLU and the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state's public defense agency, wrote in a motion. In a rare move, the judicial office that brings disciplinary cases against lawyers in Massachusetts has accused a prosecutor of professional misconduct, including allegations that she failed to share critical information with defense lawyers and attempted to interfere with defense witnesses. Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. In 2012, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court foundegregious prosecutorial misconduct after an assistant district attorney withheldevidence a judge had ordered him toproduce for the defense of a teenageraccused of statutory rape. 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. In worksheet notes dated Thursday, Dec. 22, Farak wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." Although the year she wrote the notes wasn't listed . Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Deborah Becker Twitter Host/ReporterDeborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. 3.3.2023 4:50 PM, 2022 Reason Foundation | wrote to the Attorney Generals Office two days later. "Going to use phentermine," she wrote on another, "but when I went to take it, I saw how little (v. little) there is left = ended up not using. The court also dismissed all meth cases processed at the lab since Farak started in 2004. Her answer: more than eight years before her arrest. Looking back, it seems that Massachusetts law enforcement officials, reeling from the Dookhan case, simply felt they couldn't weather another full-fledged forensics scandal. 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. The case of Rolando Penate has become a leading example for lawyers calling for further investigation into alleged misconduct by prosecutors who handled documents seized from Sonja Farak, the Amherst crime-lab chemist convicted of stealing and tampering with drug samples. Because state prosecutors hid Farak's substance abuse diaries, it took far too long for the full timeline of her crimes to become public. The state and attorneys for some of the defendants agreed to a $14 million settlement to reimburse 31,000 defendants for post conviction-related costs, such as probation and parole fees, drug analysis and GPS monitoring. Kaczmarek wrote back. If there's ever any uncertainty over "whether exculpatory information should be disclosed," the Supreme Judicial Court later wrote, "the prosecutor must file a motion for a protective order and must present the information for a judge to review.". Exhausted from the ongoing scandal in Boston, state officials were desperate for damage control. She couldn't be sure which cases these were, Dookhan told investigators. May 2003 started working in Hinton drug lab p. 14. Lets find out. Most of the heat for thisincluding formal bar complaintshas fallen on Kaczmarek and another former prosecutor, Kris Foster, who was tasked with responding to subpoenas regarding the Farak evidence. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime . 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 . "Whether law enforcement officials overlooked these papers or intentionally suppressed them is a question for another day.". As federal food benefits decline, Mass. On the surface, their crimes dont seem as injurious and they dont seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others. Though. "Because on almost a daily basis Farak abused narcoticsthere is no assurance that she was able to perform chemical analysis correctly," the judge found. After she was caught, Farak pleaded guilty to stealing drugs from the lab and was sentenced to prison time of 18 months. From 2004 to 2013, Farak took advantage of . Penate's suit said Kaczmarek withheld evidence that Farak used drugs at the lab for longer than the Massachusetts attorney general's office first claimed, and that he would not have been imprisoned based on tainted evidence. Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015 Contributed by Shawn Musgrave (Musgrave Investigations) p. 1. With your support, GBH will continue to innovate, inspire and connect through reporting you value that meets todays moments. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. The lead prosecutor on Farak's case knew about the diaries, as did supervisors at the state attorney general's office. There is nothing to indicate that the allegations against Farak date back to the time she tested the drugs in Penates case. The Hinton drug lab, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, appears to have been run largely on the honor system. ", Officials rushed to downplay the situation in Amherst. Ryan then filed a In a separate opinion in October 2018, the Supreme Judicial Court also ordered the state to return most court fines and probation fees to people whose cases were dismissed; one estimate puts that price tag at $10 million. Gov. (Conveniently, they also found a Patriots schedule from 2011 in the car.). 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. During her trial, her defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski said that Farak wasnt taking drugs to party, but instead to control her depression. Process Notes/Psychotherapy Notes Process notes are sometimes also referred to as psychotherapy notesthey're the notes you take during or after a session. Between 2005 and 2013, Sonja Farak was performing laboratory tests at a state drug lab in Amherst while under the influence of narcotics. 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. After her arrest, she received support from her parents, who showed up to her court appearances, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. This is the story of Farak's drug-induced wrongdoings, and it's the story of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office apparently turning a blind eye on those wrongfully convicted because of Farak's mistakes. And when defense attorneys tried to do it themselves, Coakley's office blocked their efforts. Martha Coakley, then attorney general for the state, argued in Melendez-Diaz that a chemist's certificate contains only "neutral, objective facts." Not only did they not turn these documents over, but I wasnt aware that they existed, said Frank Flannery, who was the Hampden County assistant district attorney assigned to appeals following Faraks arrest. Without even interviewing Foster, they determined there was "no evidence" of obstruction of justice by her, by Kaczmarek, or by any state prosecutor. It included information about the type of drugs she tampered with. This is merely a fishing expedition, Foster wrote in | She was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus five years of probation. After Faraks arrest in 2013, police found pages of mental health worksheets in her car indicating she'd struggled with drug addiction since at least 2011. Please note that if your case has been identified for dismissal, it could take approximately 2-3 months for the relevant court records to be updated. She later called this dismissive exchange a "plea to God.". To multiple courts' amazement, her incessant drug use never caught the attention of her co-workers. 2. The criminal prosecution wasn't the only investigation of the Dookhan scandal. Faraks therapist, Anna Kogan, wrote in her notes that Farak was worried about Nikki finding out about her addiction as well as the possible legal issues if she were ever caught. compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. "It was Defendant who had the responsibility within the AGO [attorney general's office] to see that the Farak investigation materials were disseminated to the DAOs [district attorneys' offices]," Robertson wrote, adding there is no evidence anyone from the attorney general's office sent the potentially exculpatory evidence to those offices.". The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. Penate argued the court should follow those findings. Among other items, Kaczmarek Kaczmarek had obtained the evidence at issue while she was prosecuting Farak on state charges of tampering with evidence and drug possession. A. In January of 2013, Sonja Farak, a chemist at a state crime lab in Massachusetts, was arrested for tampering with evidence related to criminal drug cases (Small, 2020).A year later, Farak pleaded guilty to tampering with drug evidence, theft of a controlled substance, and drug possession .She received a sentence of 18 months with 5 years of probation and was released in 2015. Sonja Farak stole, ingested or manufactured drugs almost every day for eight years while working as a chemist at a state lab in Amherst, Massachusetts. Investigators either missed or declined opportunities to dig very deep. Most important, they found seven worksheets from Farak's substance abuse therapy. In 2017, a different judge ruled that Foster's actions constituted a "fraud upon the court," calling the letter "deliberately misleading." Foster consulted Kaczmarek about the files contents, according to an Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. Deval Patrick's office didn't learn about the protocol breach until December 2011. In 2009, Farak branched out to the lab's amphetamine, phentermine, and cocaine standards. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. In the only quasi-independent probe of the Farak scandal ever ordered, Attorney General Healey and a district attorney appointed two retired judges to investigate in summer 2015. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. Thanks largely to the prosecutors' deception, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in October 2018 was forced to dismiss thousands of cases Farak may never have even touched, including every single conviction based on evidence processed at the Amherst lab from 2009 to the day of Farak's arrest in 2013. Two drug lab chemists' shocking crimes cripple a state's judicial system and blur the lines of justice for lawyers, officials and thousands of inmates. Relying on an investigation conducted by state police, the judges Sonja Farak is in the grip of a rubbed-raw depression that hasn't responded to medication. The special hearing officer found Kaczmarek "displayed no remorse" and was "not candid" during the disciplinary proceedings. Sgt. Even when she failed a post-arrest drug testprompting the lead investigator to quip to Kaczmarek, "I hope she doesn't have a stash in her house! Despite her status as a free woman (who has seemingly disappeared from the public eye), Farak's wrongdoings continue to make waves in the Massachusetts courts. 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 . From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion Lost in the high drama of determining which individual prosecutors hid evidence was a more basic question: In scandals like these, why are decisions about evidence left to prosecutors at all? But why were a small handful of prosecutors allowed total control over evidence about one of the worst criminal justice failures in recent memory? His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. In January 2014, she pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and drug possession. Her medical records included notes from Faraks therapist in Amherst, Anna Kogan. Farak signed Where is Sonja now? She started doing drugs almost as soon as she took the job at Amherst, but it was after years of negligence on her superiors part that her actions finally came to light. Join us. Name. Powered by. "We shouldn't be in the position of having to be saying, 'Don't close your eyes to the duration and scope of misconduct that may affect a whole lot of cases,'" the exasperated Massachusetts chief justice told prosecutors during oral arguments.
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