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. "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.". There is no allegation of misconduct against the local prosecutors who presented the case against Penate in Hampden County Superior Court. Only a few months after Dookhan's conviction, it was discovered that another Massachusetts crime lab worker, Sonja Farak, who was addicted to drugs, not only stole her supply from the. Each employee had a unique swipe card, but Farak simply used a physical key to get in after hours and on weekends. 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. Farak had started taking drugs on the job within months of joining the Amherst lab in 2004. In fall 2012, just five months before her arrest, Annie Dookhan confessed to faking analyses and altering samples in the Boston testing facility where she worked. "It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents, Ryan The Dookhan prosecution was barely underway, a grand jury having returned indictments a few weeks earlier. Shawn Musgrave "These drugswere tested fairly," Coakley claimed the day after Farak's arrest. Penate was convicted in December 2013 and sentenced to serve five to seven years. . In 2019, she was seen leaving the Springfield Federal Court but declined to comment on the status of the case. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition. And yet, despite explicit requests for this kind of evidence, state prosecutors withheld Farak's handwritten notes about her drug use, theft, and evidence tampering from defense attorneys and a judge for more than a year. Foster's first stepper ethical obligations and office protocolshould have been to look through the evidence to see what had already been handed over. As Kaczmarek herself later observed, Farak essentially had "a drugstore at her disposal" from her first day at the Amherst lab. But in a After the Supreme Court's decision, a skeptical colleague started tracking how many microscope slides Dookhan used to test samples for cocaine. The drug lab technician was sent to prison for 18 months, but was released in 2015. The number is 888-999-2881. The information showed that Farak sought therapy for drug addiction and that her misconduct had been ongoing for years. Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. 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. Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Scott Allen. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. "The gravity of the present case cannot be overstated," Kaczmarek wrote in her memo recommending a prison sentence of five to seven years. . State prosecutors hadnt provided this evidence to other district attorneys offices contending with the Farak fallout, either. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. 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. "Please don't let this get more complicated than we thought," Kaczmarek replied when Ballou, the lead investigator, flagged irregularities in Farak's analysis in a case featuring pain pills. When the Farak scandal erupted, that misconduct came into view. She had unrestricted access to the evidence room. The surveillance of the chemists as well as the standards and the confiscated drugs has also been increased considerably. Dookhan was now spending less time at her lab bench and more time testifying in court about her results. Deborah Becker Twitter Host/ReporterDeborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. 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. She received the American Institute of Chemists Award in her final year as well as a Crimson and Gray Award from the school a year before, which recognized her dedication, commitment and unselfishness in the enrichment of student life at WPI. A Rolling Stone piece on Farak also indicated that she graduated with high distinction from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After contemplating another suicide, she settled on drugs, and the fact that she had such easy access to it at her workplace made it easier for her to get lost in that world. Kaczmarek argued for qualified immunity after she was sued by Rolando Penate, who spent five years in prison on drug charges in which the evidence in his case was tested by Farak. It declined Farak's offer of a detailed confession in exchange for leniency, nixing the offer without even negotiating terms. Lets find out. Two Massachusetts drug lab technicians Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan were caught tainting evidence in separate drug labs in different but equally shocking ways. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus five years of probation. Listen Live: Classic and Contemporary Celtic, Listen Live: Cape, Coast and Islands NPR Station, Boston nonprofit Street2Ivy is producing this generation's entrepreneurs. The lead prosecutor on Farak's case knew about the diaries, as did supervisors at the state attorney general's office. NORTHAMPTON Sonja J. Farak told a nurse at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee in December 2013 that she used methamphetamines and other stimulants "whenever she could get her hands on them." And since her job as a chemist was to test drug samples at a state drug lab in Amherst, that opportunity came daily. Defense lawyers doubled down on challenges to every case she might have taintednot just her own, which district attorneys ultimately agreed to dismiss, but also her co-workers', based on Farak's admission that she stole from other chemists' samples. 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. Kaczmarek wrote back. His email was one of more than 800 released with the Velis-Merrigan report. February 2013 email, to which he attached the worksheets. Maybe it's not a matter of checklists or reminders that prosecutors have to keep their eyes open for improprieties. The governor didn't appoint the inspector general or anyone else to determine how long Farak was altering samples or running analyses while high. The premise revolves around documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr following the effects of crime drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan and their tampering with evidence and its aftereffects.. Dookhan was accused of forging reports and tampering with samples to . Her answer: more than eight years before her arrest. But whether anyone investigated her conduct during a brief stint working at the state's Boston drug lab is at . 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. Emma Camp 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. 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. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. The attorney general's officeKaczmarek or her supervisorscould have asked a judge to determine whether the worksheets were actually privileged, as Kaczmarek later acknowledged. Privacy Policy | Fortunately, the courts largely ignored this shallow investigation. With the Dookhan case so fresh, reporters immediately labeled Farak "the second chemist. High Massachusetts Lab Chemist Causes Thousands Of Drug Cases To Be Dismissed. 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. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. 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. In the aftermath, the court felt it necessary to make clear that "no prosecutorhas the authority to decline to disclose exculpatory information.". 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. Sonja Farak was a chemist for a state crime lab in Massachusetts. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. A final decision is still pending and must be approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court. The lone dissenting justice called the decision "too little and too late" and argued that the severity of the scandal required tossing all the cases. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. He also Another three days later, state police conducted a full search of Farak's workstation, finding a vial of powder that tested positive for oxycodone, plus 11.7 grams of cocaine in a desk drawer. Or she just lied about her results altogether: In one of the more ludicrous cases, she testified under oath that a chunk of cashew was crack cocaine. 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. Exhausted from the ongoing scandal in Boston, state officials were desperate for damage control. 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. 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. In addition to ordering the dismissal of many thousands of cases, the Supreme Judicial Court directed a committee to draft a "checklist" for prosecutors, clarifying their obligation to turn over evidence to defendants. Meier put the number at 40,323 defendants, though some have called that an overestimate. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder One colleague called her the "super woman of the lab. The court also dismissed all meth cases processed at the lab since Farak started in 2004. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. Kaczmarek had obtained the evidence at issue while she was prosecuting Farak on state charges of tampering with evidence and drug possession. The Amherst Bulletin reported that her medical records indicated that she only became addicted to drugs once she started working at the lab, in 2004. Poetically, that landmark case originated from the Hinton lab, although Dookhan didn't conduct the analysis in question. As federal food benefits decline, Mass. Heres what you need to know about Sonja Farak: Farak was born on January 13, 1978, in Rhode Island to Stanley and Linda Farak. Penate and other defendants are asking see all of Fosters emails regarding Farak and other materials relating to the handling of evidence in the chemist's case. memo to Judge Kinder the next week, Foster said she reviewed the file, and said every document in it had already been disclosed. The charges against Penate were dismissed after Farak's conviction. The judge ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to coordinate on identifying undisclosed emails related to documents seized from the disgraced state crime lab chemist. Two weeks after Ryans discovery, the Attorney Generals Office Meanwhile, other top prosecutors, including Coakley, largely escaped criticism for their collective failure to hand over evidence that they were bound by constitutional mandate to share with defendants. Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. Foster said that Kaczmarek told her all relevant evidence had been turned over and that her supervisor told her to write the letter, though both denied these claims. On paper, these numbers made Dookhan the most productive chemist at Hinton; the next most productive averaged around 300 samples per month. 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. "If she were suffering from back injurymaybe she took some oxys?" Where is Sonja now? "he didn't request a warrant. Reporting for this story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. This not only led to people getting a reprieve from prison but also filing their own lawsuits against the injustice they had to suffer. Terms Of Use, (Annie Dookhan (left) and Sonja Farak, Associated Press). Judge Kinder denied Ryans motion. You can check your records electronically by following this link: https://icori.chs.state.ma.us. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. "No reasonable individual could have failed to appreciate the unlawfulness of [Kaczmarek's] actions in these circumstances," Robertson wrote in her ruling. The latest true crime offering from Netflix is the documentary series "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." It dives into the story of Sonja Farak, a chemist who worked for a Massachusetts state drug. The crucial fact of her longstanding and frequent drug use also never made it into Farak's trial, much less to defendants appealing convictions predicated on her tainted analyses. She was struggling to suppress mental health issues, depression in particular, and she tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. Foster Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. "I remember actually sitting on the stand and looking at it," Farak said of her first time swiping from evidence in a trafficking case, "knowing that I had analyzed the sample and that I had then tampered with it.". The Attorney Generals Office, Velis and Merrigan and the state police declined to answer questions about the handling of the Farak evidence. But unlike with Dookhan, there were no independent investigations of Farak or the Amherst lab. 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. Read More: Where is Sonja Farak Sister Now? The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. Martha Coakley, then attorney general for the state, argued in Melendez-Diaz that a chemist's certificate contains only "neutral, objective facts." This past Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court filed a report saying that more than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases have been dismissed as a result of foul play by a former state drug lab chemist. The justices ordered Healey's department to cover all costs of notifying all defendants whose cases were dismissed. She tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. Her reporting focuses on mental health, criminal justice and education. At the time of her arrest, she had resided in 37 Laurel Park in Northampton. According to the notes, Farak thought it gave her energy, helped her to get things done and not procrastinate, feel more positive., Her partner Nikki Lee testified before a grand jury that she herself had tried cocaine, that she had observed Farak using cocaine in 2000, and that she had marijuana in her house when police officers arrived to search the premises as part of their investigation of Farak., In Faraks testimony during a grand jury investigation, she said that she became a recreational drug user during graduate school and used cocaine, marihuana, and ecstasy. She also said she used heroin one time and was nervous and sick and hated every minute of it [and had] no desire to use [it] again., Farak met and settled down with Nikki Lee in her 20s. "Forensic evidence is not uniquely immune from the risk of manipulation," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. She was ar-rested for tampering with evidence while abusing narcotics at work. "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. TherapyNotes. Because state prosecutors hid Farak's substance abuse diaries, it took far too long for the full timeline of her crimes to become public. According to her teammates, She was the best center in the league last year, and they [felt] stronger with her in there than with some guys.. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff The place was closed as soon as Faraks crimes came to light. Follow us so you don't miss a thing! A. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. Although the year she wrote the notes wasnt listed on the worksheet, in the six years prior to her arrest, 2011 is the only year in which Dec. 22 fell on a Thursday. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions. The Netflix docuseries ends by acknowledging that Farak received an 18-month sentence, and that defense attorney Luke Ryan was able . While Dookhan had tampered with evidence and indulged in dry-labbing, Farak stole from her workplace. "The mental health worksheets constituted admissions by the state lab chemist assigned to analyze the samples seized in Plaintiffs case that she was stealing and using lab samples to feed a drug addiction at the time she was testing and certifying the samples in Plaintiffs case, including, in one instance, on the very day that she certified a sample," Robertson's ruling reads. 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? It ultimately took a blatant violation to expose Dookhan, and even then her bosses twisted themselves in knots to hold on to their "super woman.". This was not true, as Nassif's department later conceded. This is the story of Farak's drug-induced wrongdoings, and it's the. "The need to inform defendants of government misconduct does not disappear when that misconduct was committed by a government lawyer as opposed to a government chemist.". In the eight and a half years she worked at the Hinton State Laboratory in Boston, her supervisors apparently never noticed she certified samples as narcotics without actually testing them, a type of fraud called "dry-labbing." Because of all that, it's no surprise that Farak was sent to prison in Massachusetts. Between Farak and Dookhanwho's also featured in How to Fix a Drug Scandal38,000 wrongfully convicted cases have been dismissed, according to the Washington Post. 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. Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015. The defense bar had raised concerns that prosecutors might be "perceived as having a stake" in such an investigation. "Whether law enforcement officials overlooked these papers or intentionally suppressed them is a question for another day.". Kaczmarek also oversaw the prosecution for the attorney general's office in that case. Her notes record on-the-job drug use ranging from small nips of the lab's baseline. 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. Process Notes/Psychotherapy Notes Process notes are sometimes also referred to as psychotherapy notesthey're the notes you take during or after a session. Without access to the diaries, the Springfield judge in 2013 found that Farak had starting stealing from samples in summer 2012. Nassif put Dookhan on desk duty but allowed her to finish testing cases already on her plate, including some of the samples she had taken from the locker. Despite such unequivocal findings of misconduct, the court removed language about Kaczmarek and Foster from notification letters to those whose cases have been dismissed, which will be sent out in early 2019. As he leafed through three boxes of evidence, he found the substance abuse worksheets and diaries. When Farak was arrested,former Attorney General Martha Coakley told the public investigators believed Farak tampered with drugs at the lab for only a few months. Defense attorneys had. Investigators gave that information to Kaczmarek and the state AG's office,according tohearings before thestate board that disciplines attorneys. 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. (Conveniently, they also found a Patriots schedule from 2011 in the car.). This threw every sample she had ever tested into question. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. Tens of thousands of criminal drug cases were dismissed as a result of misconduct by Dookhan and Farak. Scalia may as well have been describing Dookhan. 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. This immediately provoked questions about the thousands of cases in which her findings had contributed to the imprisonment of an individual. 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. In a letter filed with the Supreme Court, Julianne Nassif, a lab supervisor, wrote that Hinton had "appropriate quality control" measures. Join us. She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. concluded there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice in matters related to the Farak case. In June 2017, following hearings in which Kaczmarek, Foster, Verner, and others took the stand, a judge found that Kaczmarek and Foster together "piled misrepresentation upon misrepresentation to shield the mental health worksheets from disclosure.". Stream GBH's Award-Winning Content For Parents And Children. In 2009, Farak branched out to the lab's amphetamine, phentermine, and cocaine standards. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. I felt euphoric, Kogan wrote of Farak. El 6 de enero de 2014, Farak se declar culpable de los cargos en su contra. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. The fact that she ran analyses while high and regularly dipped into samples casts doubt on thousands of convictions. Farak started at Amherst lab in Aug 2004 p. 32. Powered by. But Ryan, who represented Penate, suspected it was more extensive. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Finding that there did not appear to be enough slides in Dookhan's discard pile to match her numbers, the colleague brought his concerns to an outside attorney, who advised he should be careful making "accusations about a young woman's career," he later told state police. chemist, Sonja Farak, had been battling drug addiction and had tampered with samples she was assigned to test around the time she tested the samples in Penate's case. Fue arrestada el 19 de enero de 2013. noted the mental health worksheets found in Faraks car, which had not been released. Yet state prosecutors withheld Farak's handwritten notes about her drug use, theft, and evidence tampering from defense attorneys and a judge for more than a year. 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. "Because on almost a daily basis Farak abused narcoticsthere is no assurance that she was able to perform chemical analysis correctly," the judge found. She consumed meth, crack cocaine, amphetamines, and LSD at the bench where she tested samples, in a lab bathroom, and even at courthouses where she was testifying. "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. Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. But a crucial issue was not before the court. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. Sonja Farak is at the center of Netflix's new true crime docuseries, How To Fix a Drug Scandal. She consumed meth, crack cocaine, amphetamines, and LSD at the bench where she tested samples, in a lab bathroom, and even at courthouses where she was testifying. We couldn't do it without you. Farak received a sentence of 18 months in jail and 5 years of probation. Both have since left the attorney general's office for other government positions. 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. To multiple courts' amazement, her incessant drug use never caught the attention of her co-workers. Two detectives found Farak at a courthouse waiting to testify on an unrelated matter. 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. ordered a report on the history of her illicit behavior. Farak's reports were central to thousands of cases, and the fact that she ran analyses while high and regularly dipped into "urge-ful" samples casts doubt on thousands of convictions. She said, It was about coping; it certainly wasnt about having fun; I dont think shes had fun in quite a while.. ", In 2004, her first full year at the lab, Dookhan reported analyzing approximately 700 samples per month. But she insisted the drugs didn't compromise her worka belief that one judge would aptly declare "belies logic.". 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.
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