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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Massachusetts |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Annie Dookhan was a Massachusetts crime lab technician whose conduct contributed to more known wrongful convictions than any technician in U.S. history. On April 19, 2017 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the vacatur and dismissal of 21,587 drug related convictions under Massachusetts G.L. Chapter. 94C (Controlled Substances Act) that were based on a "Drug Certificate" provided by Annie Dookhan. The convictions were vacated due to insufficient evidence by the post-conviction exclusion of the evidence provided by Dookhan in the trial court upon which the convictions were based. Dookhan worked as a chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory from 2003 to 2012 -- although she ceased handling new cases in 2011. On June 9, 2017 the SJC "ORDERED that the date for entry of the vacatur and dismissal with prejudice of the convictions and dispositions and the date for entry of the recall of the outstanding warrants referenced in the amended declaratory judgment, shall be April 19, 2017, the date of the original declaratory judgment." (Gaziano, J.)" (Kevin Bridgeman et al v. Dist Attorney for the Suffolk Dist. et al, No. SJ-2014-0005 (Mass. Supreme Judicial Court, 6-9-17) (Order)) The cases were in nine Massachusetts counties: Suffolk; Essex; Plymouth; Bristol; Norfolk; Middlesex; Nantucket; Dukes; and Barnstable (Nantucket; Dukes & Barnstable are under the Cape & Islands Dist. Attorney's Office.). On May 22, 2017 the SJC issued an Order related to the possibly more than 18,000 people convicted on the basis of a Drug Certificate signed by Dookhan, who didn't have their conviction vacated and the charges dismissed as a result of hte April 19, 2017 order: "It is hereby ORDERED that: Any individual who establishes that he or she: (1)qualifies as a relevant Dookhan defendant, meaning an individual convicted of a G. L. c. 94C drug offense in whose case Dookhan signed the drug certificate on the line labeled Assistant Analyst before the individual's guilty plea or admission to sufficient facts to warrant a guilty finding, or before his or her trial, see Bridgeman v. District Attorney for the Suffolk Dist., 476 Mass. 298, 306 & n.8 (2017)(Bridgeman II); (2) so qualifies in relation to a conviction, admission to sufficient facts, continuance without a finding, or other adverse disposition that is not listed in any Letter 2 or Letter 3 lists submitted to this Court by a District Attorney on April 18, 2017, pursuant to Bridgeman II, 476 Mass. at 327; and (3) has not previously had a Dookhan-based motion to vacate the qualifying adverse disposition adjudicated on the merits, may file a motion in the appropriate court to vacate the same. Such an individual shall be entitled to a presumption of vacatur and dismissal with prejudice of the qualifying adverse disposition, which presumption may be rebutted by the Commonwealth upon a showing of compelling circumstances to excuse the omission of such qualifying disposition from any of the submitted Letter 2 or Letter 3 lists." (Kevin Bridgeman et al v. Dist Attorney for the Suffolk Dist. et al, No. SJ-2014-0005 (Mass. Supreme Judicial Court, 5-22-17) (Order)) Dookhan was arrested on September 28, 2012 and charged with obstruction of justice and falsification of academic records. On December 17, 2012 Dookhan was arraigned on 27 charges related to her conduct at the lab: 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, and one count each of perjury and falsification of records. Dookhan agreed to a plea deal. On November 22, 2013 Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball sentenced Dookhan to three to five years imprisonment and two years probation. Dookhan was granted parole and released in April 2016, after two years and six months imprisonment. 15,570 of the dismissed Dookhan cases were in Suffolk County. With additional cases dismissed after the Supreme Judicial Courts order on April 19, 2017, the total number of dismissed cases as of December 31, 2017 is believed to have been 21,839." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 19, 2017 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the dismissal of 21,587 drug related convictions under Massachusetts G.L. Chapter. 94C (Controlled Substances Act) that were based on a "Drug Certificate" provided by Annie Dookhan," |
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Information Source 1: |
"Kevin Bridgeman & Others v. District Attorney for the Suffolk District & Others, 476 Mass. 298 (1-18-2017)" |
Information Location 1: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5928336817694206463&q=476+Mass.+298&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 2: |
"Supreme Judicial Court Dismisses Over 21,000 Cases Affected by the Breach at the Hinton State Laboratory Institute, Press Release, Massachusetts Court System, April 20, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.mass.gov/courts/news-pubs/sjc/sjc-dismisses-thousands-of-cases-affected-by-hinton-state-laboratory-breach.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Kevin Bridgeman et al v. Dist Attorney for the Suffolk Dist. et al, No. SJ-2017-m0008 (Mass. Supreme Judicial Court) - special-master-report" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/sjc/docs/sj-2017-m008-special-master-report.pdf |
Information Source 4: |
"Bridgeman v. Dist. Att. for the Suffolk Dist., 471 Mass. 465, 30 N.E.3d 806 (Mass. Supreme Judicial Ct., 5-18-2015)" |
Information Location 4: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9059681069283409271&q=471+Mass.+465,+30+N.E.3d+806&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org