That motion was denied, and the notice letters will explain Farak's tampering without any mention of prosecutorial misconduct. a certification of drug samples in Penates case on Dec. 22, 2011. Foster Farak. Shown results suggesting otherwise, she copped to contaminating samples "a few times" during the previous "two to three years.". 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. Sonja Farak. 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. It was an astoundingly light touch for the second state chemist arrested in six months. How to Fix a Drug Scandal is an American true crime documentary miniseries that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020. It included information about the type of drugs she tampered with. 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. Before her sentencing, Farak failed a drug test while out on bail, according to Mass Live. In a March 2013 She had unrestricted access to the evidence room. | In an August 2013 email, Ryan asked Assistant Attorney General Kris Foster to review evidence taken from Farak. The defense bar had raised concerns that prosecutors might be "perceived as having a stake" in such an investigation. This might not have mattered as much if the investigators had followed the evidence that Farak had been using drugs for at least a year and almost certainly longer. Sonja Farak is in the grip of a rubbed-raw depression that hasn't responded to medication. Maybe fatigue made them sloppy, or perhaps they actively chose to look the other way as evidence piled up about the enormity of Farak's crimes. Sgt. ", The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Tens of thousands of criminal drug cases were dismissed as a result of misconduct by Dookhan and Farak. She was also testifying in court while high. He recommended she lose her law license for two years; the Office of Bar Counsel later argued Kaczmarek should be disbarred. A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. And then the bigger investigation was going to be someone else.". 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. READ NEXT: Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal Story: 5 Fast Facts, Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Soon after Dookhan's arrest, Coakley's office asked the governor to order a broader independent probe of the Hinton lab. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The Chemists and the Cover-Up". Over time, Farak's drug use turned to cocaine, LSD and, eventually, crack. 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. The worksheets, essentially counseling notes, showed that Farak had been using drugs often on the job for much longer than the attorney general's office had claimed. A judge sentenced Dookhan to three years in prison; she was granted parole in April 2016. 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. The civil lawsuit was one of the last tied to prosecutors' disputedhandling of the case against disgraced ex-chemist Sonja Farak, who was convicted in 2014 of ingesting drug samples she was supposed to test at the Amherst state drug lab. 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. 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. She was arrested in 2013 when the supervisor at the Amherst lab was made aware that two samples were missing. 2. The Attorney Generals Office, Velis and Merrigan and the state police declined to answer questions about the handling of the Farak evidence. | On top of that, it was also ensured that no analyst would ever work without supervision. "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." 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.". This immediately provoked questions about the thousands of cases in which her findings had contributed to the imprisonment of an individual. A federal judge has rejected claims from an embattled former state prosecutor that she is protected from liability in the fallout over a Massachusetts drug lab scandal. another filing. Dookhan's output remained implausibly high even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (2009) that defendants were entitled to cross-examine forensic chemists about their analysis. 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. Local prosecutors also remained in the dark. 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.". Foster, now general counsel at the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and Kaczmarek, now a clerk magistrate in Suffolk Superior Court, declined to comment for this story. A year later, in October 2014, prosecutors relented, granting access to the full evidence in Farak's case to attorney Luke Ryan. 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. Farak worked for the Amherst Drug Lab in Massachusetts for 9 years when she was convicted of stealing and using them. Its no big deal, 14-year-old Farak said to the Panama City News Herald. Shawn Musgrave Kaczmarek got a note from Sgt. At this point, Farakunlike Dookhandidn't admit anything. Netflix's latest true-crime series, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, dives deep into a shocking Massachusetts scandal, one that started in the humble confines of an underfunded drug testing lab and ended with an entire system in question. Support GBH. After weeks of hearings, a "special hearing officer" selected by the board recommended potential sanctions against them all. 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. She was trying to suppress mental health issues, depression in specific, and she attempted to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. "I was totally controlled by my addiction," Farak later testified. Sonja Farak is at the center of Netflix's new true crime docuseries, How To Fix a Drug Scandal. 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. One reason that didn't happen, he says: "the determination Coakley and her team made the morning after Farak's arrest that her misconduct did not affect the due process rights of any Farak defendants." A scandal erupts, raising questions for the thousands of defendants in her cases. 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. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. Two detectives found Farak at a courthouse waiting to testify on an unrelated matter. It contained substances often used to make counterfeit cocaine, including soap, baking soda, candle wax, and modeling clay, plus lab dishes, wax paper, and fragments of a crack pipe. Coakley assigned the case against Dookhan to Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek and her supervisor, John Verner. 3.3.2023 4:50 PM, 2022 Reason Foundation | Where is Sonja now? . She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. Farak struggled with mental health throughout her life, the documentary series explains. But she insisted the drugs didn't compromise her worka belief that one judge would aptly declare "belies logic.". "Because on almost a daily basis Farak abused narcoticsthere is no assurance that she was able to perform chemical analysis correctly," the judge found. A local prosecutor also asked Ballou to look into a case Farak had tested as far back as 2005. 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. Thanks to Farak's testimony and those diary worksheets, we now know that, soon after joining the Amherst lab in 2004, Farak started skimming from the methamphetamine "standard," an undiluted oil used as a reference against which suspected meth samples are compared. Coakley's office finally launched a criminal investigation in July 2012, more than a year after the infraction was discovered by Dookhan's supervisors. Among other items, Kaczmarek Democratic Gov. Given the account that Farak was a law-abiding citizen, it is questioned as to how an Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. mentioned a New England Patriots game on Saturday, Dec. 24 which corresponded with a game date in 2011. Velis said he stood by the findings. Process Notes/Psychotherapy Notes Process notes are sometimes also referred to as psychotherapy notesthey're the notes you take during or after a session. In the series, it's explained that Farak loved the energy the meth gave her. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. As federal food benefits decline, Mass. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions. Most important, they found seven worksheets from Farak's substance abuse therapy. 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. memo, Kaczmarek told her supervisors that "Farak's admissions on her 'emotional worksheets' recovered from her car detail her struggle with substance abuse. Inwardly though, Sonja was struggling. Since her release, she has kept a low profile and managed to stay out of the public . Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. The Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) is reviewing the actions of three prosecutors in the investigation of the scandal to determine whether any of them deliberately withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Such strong claims were too hasty at best, since investigators had not yet finished basic searches; three days later, police executed a warrant for a duffel bag they found stuffed behind Farak's desk. His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. The Hinton drug lab, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, appears to have been run largely on the honor system. 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. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. Because state prosecutors hid Farak's substance abuse diaries, it took far too long for the full timeline of her crimes to become public. Maybe it's not a matter of checklists or reminders that prosecutors have to keep their eyes open for improprieties. Patrick said "the most important take-home" was that "no individual's due process rights were compromised.". Instead, Kaczmarek proceeded as if the substance abuse was a recent development. She started working shortly after for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in July 2003 until July 2012, and from July 2012 until January 2013 for the Massachusetts State Police when the lab fell under their jurisdiction. Months after Farak pleaded guilty in January 2014, Ryan filed a In November 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, and perjury. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. Thus, only defendants whose evidence she tested in the six-month window before her arrest could challenge their cases. We couldn't do it without you. 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. 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. Out of "an abundance of caution," Kaczmarek didn't present them to the grand jury that was convened to determine whether to indict Farak. Without access to the diaries, the Springfield judge in 2013 found that Farak had starting stealing from samples in summer 2012. But without access to evidence showing how long Farak had been doing this, defendants with constitutional grounds for challenging their incarceration were held for months and even years longer than necessary. "I suspect that if another entity was in the mix"perhaps the inspector general or an independent investigator"the Attorney General's Office would have treated the Farak case much more seriously and would have been much more reluctant to hide the ball," Ryan writes in an email. But in a Powered by. As How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores, Farak had long struggled with her mental . It features the true story of Sonja Farak, a former state drug lab chemist in Massachusetts who was arrested in 2013 for consuming the drugs she was supposed to test and tampering with the evidence to cover up her tracks. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. shipped nearly 300 pages of previously undisclosed materials to local prosecutors around the state. As he leafed through three boxes of evidence, he found the substance abuse worksheets and diaries. She recovered, made it through college and got a job as a chemist at the Amherst Crime Lab, where she tested confiscated drugs. The lead prosecutor on Farak's case knew about the diaries, as did supervisors at the state attorney general's office. 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. Kaczmarek, along with former assistant attorneys general Kris Foster and John Verner, all face possible sanctions. The information showed that Farak sought therapy for drug addiction and that her misconduct had been ongoing for years. Mucha gente que vio el programa se pregunta: dnde est Sonja Farak ahora? When grand jury materials were eventually released to defense attorneys, then, they did not mention that these documents existed. (Conveniently, they also found a Patriots schedule from 2011 in the car.). 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.
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