BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ highest court is set to consider whether to toss more convictions linked to a former chemist who authorities say was high almost every day she worked at a state drug lab for eight years.
The Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in the case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the state’s public defender agency.
Prosecutors already have agreed to dismiss thousands of cases tainted by Sonja Farak, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to stealing cocaine from the lab.
Now, the ACLU and Committee for Public Counsel Services are seeking the dismissal of all convictions that relied on evidence from the drug lab while Farak worked there and for protocols to be established for future instances of misconduct.
[cover photo — Sonja Farak, left, stands during her arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, Massachusets on January 22, 2013 // photo Don Treeger, The Republican via AP]
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