By Milton J. Valencia and Martin Finucane / Globe Staff / November 22, 2013
Annie Dookhan, the former state chemist whose mishandling of evidence in drug cases threw the state’s criminal justice system into turmoil, pleaded guilty today in Suffolk Superior Court and was sentenced to three to five years in prison.
“You plead guilty here because you are guilty?” Judge Carol S. Ball said as she explained the rights Dookhan was giving up because of her guilty plea.
“Yes, Your Honor,” Dookhan said meekly.
Dookhan’s falsification of drug tests, in an attempt to look like a highly productive employee, prompted the release of hundreds of convicts, raised questions about thousands of cases, and forced the state to spend millions to address the problems
Ball, who found that Dookhan had entered her plea “freely, willingly, and voluntarily,” also sentenced Dookhan to two years of probation.
Dookhan, in handcuffs, spoke briefly with her lawyer before she was escorted out of the courtroom.
During the hearing, she looked straight at a prosecutor, showing no emotion, as the prosecutor went over the facts of the case and described the impacts of her actions.
Prosecutors had requested a five-to-seven-year sentence for Dookhan. Her defense attorney had argued for a maximum sentence of one year.
Sentencing guidelines called for a maximum sentence of three years for Dookhan, but Ball said in a ruling last month she wanted to impose a tougher sentence “given the magnitude of the harm she has done, considerations of general deterrence and, particularly, punishment.”
The judge said in the ruling that “the consequences of her behavior, which she ought to have foreseen, have been nothing short of catastrophic: Innocent persons were incarcerated, guilty persons have been released to further endanger the public, millions and millions of public dollars are being expended to deal with the chaos Ms. Dookhan created, and the integrity of the criminal justice system has been shaken to the core.”
Dookhan pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including evidence tampering and obstruction of justice. She worked at a now-closed Department of Public Health lab in Jamaica Plain.
A scientific determination that a substance seized by police is an illegal drug is a cornerstone of a drug case in court. A defendant cannot be convicted for possession or distribution of, for example, a harmless white powder.
State officials have said Dookhan’s actions may have tainted more than 40,000 cases.
Since last year, the state Department of Correction has released more than 300 people convicted in drug cases where Dookhan played a role. That number does not include anyone released by a county house of correction, the Globe reported last month.
Court records showed that more than 600 people have had convictions against them erased or temporarily set aside or have been released on bail pending new trials, the Globe also reported.
One defendant, Donta Hood of Brockton, who was freed due to concerns about Dookhan’s handling of evidence, is accused of shooting and killing a man in May.
Milton J. Valencia can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.
John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
© Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company.
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