Suffolk DA Moves To Vacate 100+ Drug Convictions Tied To Chemist

Boston MA

17 November, 2020

10:07 AM

Description

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed a motion Monday to vacate more than 100 drug convictions linked to disgraced chemist Annie Dookhan. Rollins is looking to vacate 108 "List Three" convictions, which were not overturned in a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling. In that ruling district attorneys were required to say they could produce evidence proving the substance at issue was the drug alleged in the charge, but they had to do so independent of Dookhan's confirmation. That decision left 117 cases on "List Three." Nine of those have already been dismissed or had plea agreements renegotiated. "All List Three cases are forever tainted by egregious and reprehensible government misconduct — even if fresh convictions were to be obtained without Dookhan's involvement," Rollins said in a statement. "No defendant impacted by this ignominious chapter of Massachusetts law enforcement history should continue to bear the burden of Dookhan's deceit, her sad and desperate need for attention, and the enormous amount of harm she inflicted upon so many." Rollins is the first district attorney in the state to make such a motion. Dookhan, a former chemist at the state's Department of Public Health, admitted to faking test results. She pleaded guilty in 2013 to obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence. Dookhan's admissions affected tens of thousands of cases.