TherapyNotes is a complete practice management system with everything you need to manage patient records, schedule appointments, meet with patients remotely, create rich documentation, and bill insurance, right at your fingertips. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. On another worksheet chronicling her struggle not to use, she described 12 of the next 13 samples assigned to her for testing as "urge-ful.". ", Prosecutors maintained that Faraks rogue behavior spanned just a few months. She had never quashed a subpoena before, but supervisors told her to fend off motions about Farak. Farak was arrested the next day, and the attorney general's office assigned the case to Anne Kaczmarek. At some point, the attorney general's office stopped chasing leads entirely. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. The fact that she ran analyses while high and regularly dipped into samples casts doubt on thousands of convictions. Farak had started taking drugs on the job within months of joining the lab. "That was one of the lines I had thought I would never cross: I wouldn't tamper with evidence, I wouldn't smoke crack, and then I wouldn't touch other people's work," Farak said. After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. Instead, she submitted an intentionally vague letter to the judge claiming defense attorneys already had everything. . "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. 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. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. Follow us so you don't miss a thing! 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. Foster's first stepper ethical obligations and office protocolshould have been to look through the evidence to see what had already been handed over. It's been like this forever, or at least since girlhood. 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.". But unlike with Dookhan, no one launched a bigger investigation of Farak. Farak received a sentence of 18 months in jail and 5 years of probation. "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.". Thus, only defendants whose evidence she tested in the six-month window before her arrest could challenge their cases. Privacy Policy | Penate was convicted in December 2013 and sentenced to serve five to seven years. concluded she was usually high while working in the lab for more than eight years before her arrest in January 2013 and started stealing samples seven years ago. | 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. Gioia called for evidentiary hearings so prosecutors can be asked about what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did with their knowledge., Luke Ryan, Penates trial lawyer, said that the state police officers working on the report failed to obtain an appropriate understanding of the events that transpired before they were assigned to this investigation.". | Kaczmarek argued the findings are subject to appeal. A judge sentenced Dookhan to three years in prison; she was granted parole in April 2016. Release year: 2020. Both have since left the attorney general's office for other government positions. Penate argued the court should follow those findings. As How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores, Farak had long struggled with her mental . 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. 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. Yet Dookhan's brazen crimes went undetected for ages. The show also delves into the issues of the state in discovering and reporting on the extent of the cases that were affected by Faraks actions. 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. 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. 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. 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. In an August 2013 email, Ryan asked Assistant Attorney General Kris Foster to review evidence taken from Farak. According to a Rolling Stone piece on Farak, she struggled with depression from an early age, one that hasnt responded to medication. They wrote that Farak attempted suicide in high school and was also hospitalized while in college. To better estimate how many convictions will have to be reviewed because of Farak, the Supreme Judicial Court Where Is Sonja Farak Now? Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. 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. Process Notes/Psychotherapy Notes Process notes are sometimes also referred to as psychotherapy notesthey're the notes you take during or after a session. 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 . Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. Another worksheet had the month and weekdays for December 2011, which police easily could have determined by cross-referencing holidays or looking up a New England Patriots game mentioned in one entry. 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. Nassif considered it a lapse in judgment, but not a disqualifying one; Nassif's boss didn't think it necessary to alert the prosecutors whose cases relied on the samples, much less the defendants. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Scott Allen. Months after Farak pleaded guilty in January 2014, Ryan filed a 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. Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. Inwardly though, Sonja Farak was striving. If there's ever any uncertainty over "whether exculpatory information should be disclosed," the Supreme Judicial Court later wrote, "the prosecutor must file a motion for a protective order and must present the information for a judge to review.". 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.. 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. "I was totally controlled by my addiction," Farak later testified. Her job consisted of testing drugs that have. For years, Sonja Farak was addicted to cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamines, the kind of drugs usually bought from street dealers in covert transactions that carry the constant risk of arrest. I felt euphoric, Kogan wrote of Farak. Two Massachusetts drug-testing laboratory technicians are caught tampering with and falsifying drug evidence, and prosecutors are reluctant to disclose the full extent of their criminal behavior. Fue arrestada el 19 de enero de 2013. Her access to evidence was not restricted, and she continued testifying in court. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. Most of the heat for thisincluding formal bar complaintshas fallen on Kaczmarek and another former prosecutor, Kris Foster, who was tasked with responding to subpoenas regarding the Farak evidence. The defense bar also demanded answers on how such crucial evidence stayed buried for so long. "If she were suffering from back injurymaybe she took some oxys?" This very well could have been the end of the investigative trail but for a few stubborn defense lawyers, who appealed the ruling. 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. 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. ", Officials rushed to downplay the situation in Amherst. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. Sonja Farak had admitted to stealing and using drugs from the drug lab where she worked as a chemist for around 9 years. Soon after, the state police took over the control, and the lab was moved to Springfield, where it remains under the supervision of the state police. But in a In 2012, she began taking from co-workers' samples, forging intake forms and editing the lab database to cover her tracks. Investigators either missed or declined opportunities to dig very deep. The former judges and the state police officers who helped them conducted a thorough review, said Emalie Gainey, spokeswoman for Attorney General Maura Healey. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff "All Defendant had to do to honor the Plaintiffs Brady rights was to turn over copies of documents that were obviously exculpatory as to the Farak defendants or accede to one of the repeated requests from counsel, including Plaintiffs counsel, that they be permitted to inspect the evidence seized from Faraks car," Robertson wrote in her ruling. Subscribe to Reason Roundup, a wrap up of the last 24 hours of news, delivered fresh each morning. Lets find out. It took another three years for the truth to emerge. Having barely investigated her, prosecutors indicted Farak only for the samples in her possession the day she was caught. Our posture is to not delve into the twists and turns of the investigation or the report and to let it stand on its own, Merrigan said. From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion In "How to Fix a Drug Scandal," a new four-part Netflix docuseries, documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr presents the stories of Massachusetts drug lab chemists Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak, and . The attorney general's officeKaczmarek or her supervisorscould have asked a judge to determine whether the worksheets were actually privileged, as Kaczmarek later acknowledged. The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. shipped nearly 300 pages of previously undisclosed materials to local prosecutors around the state. State police took these worksheets from Farak's car in January 2013, the same day they arrested her for tampering with evidence and for cocaine possession. "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. According to an Attorney General Offices report, Farak attended Temple University in Philadelphia for graduate school, which is where she became a recreational drug user. The twin Massachusetts drug lab scandals are unprecedented in the sheer number of cases thrown out because of forensic misconduct. Farak also had an apparent obsession for her therapists husband, as she was reported to have a folder that shed put together about him, documenting her obsession. She recovered, made it through college and got a job as a chemist at the Amherst Crime Lab, where she tested confiscated drugs. In the aftermath, the court felt it necessary to make clear that "no prosecutorhas the authority to decline to disclose exculpatory information.". Judge Kinder denied Ryans motion. A year later, in October 2014, prosecutors relented, granting access to the full evidence in Farak's case to attorney Luke Ryan. They tend to be more freeform notes about the session and your impressions of the client's statements and demeanour. | She had been accused of intentional infliction of emotional distress in addition to the conspiracy to violate [Penates] civil rights.. Sonja Farak was a chemist at a state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, from 2005 to 2013. What Did Sonja Farak Do, Exactly? 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. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. 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. another filing. Verner, who testified that he didn't "micromanage" Kaczmarek, escaped criticism. 3.3.2023 5:45 PM, Jacob Sullum Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. We couldn't do it without you. As Kaczmarek herself later observed, Farak essentially had "a drugstore at her disposal" from her first day at the Amherst lab. mentioned a New England Patriots game on Saturday, Dec. 24 which corresponded with a game date in 2011. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. 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. 1. She had unrestricted access to the evidence room. This is merely a fishing expedition, Foster wrote in Soon after Dookhan's arrest, Coakley's office asked the governor to order a broader independent probe of the Hinton lab. Since the takeover, the budget for all forensic labs across the state has been increased, by around twenty-five per cent. ", Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. YouTube Faraks wife had her own mental health problems, and according to Rolling Stone, Farak would have conflict with her wife every night at home. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. In a separate opinion in October 2018, the Supreme Judicial Court also ordered the state to return most court fines and probation fees to people whose cases were dismissed; one estimate puts that price tag at $10 million. With your support, GBH will continue to innovate, inspire and connect through reporting you value that meets todays moments. Per her own court testimony, as shown in the docu-series, Farak started working at a state drug lab in Amherst in 2004. Farak was getting high off the confiscated drugs police sent her way before replacing the evidence with fake drugs. They were found with their packaging sliced open and their contents apparently altered. One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. Instead, Coakley's office served as gatekeeper to evidence that could have untangled the scandal and freed thousands of people from prison and jail years earlier, or at least wiped their improper convictions off the books. 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.". Her answer: more than eight years before her arrest. 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. Where is Sonja now? As the state's top court put it, the criminal investigation into Farak was "cursory at best.". 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. At this point, Farakunlike Dookhandidn't admit anything. 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. If Farak found a substance was a true drug, the person it was confiscated from could be convicted of a substance-related crime. But absent evidence of aggravating misconduct by prosecutors or cops, the majority ruled, Dookhan's tampering alone didn't justify a blanket dismissal of every case she had touched. Even when she failed a post-arrest drug testprompting the lead investigator to quip to Kaczmarek, "I hope she doesn't have a stash in her house! Chemist Sonja Farak pleaded guilty to "tampering with evidence" back in 2014 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Shawn Musgrave As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. Between the two women, 47,000 drug convictions and guilty pleas have been dismissed in the last two years, many for misdemeanor possession. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting. "Whether law enforcement officials overlooked these papers or intentionally suppressed them is a question for another day.". And when defense attorneys tried to do it themselves, Coakley's office blocked their efforts. Two weeks after Ryans discovery, the Attorney Generals Office Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. In June 2011, Dookhan secretly took 90 samples out of an evidence locker and then forged a co-worker's initials to check them back in, a clear chain-of-custody breach. Judge Kinder ordered her to produce all potentially privileged documents for his review to determine whether they could be disclosed. It's not as bad as Dookhan, they asserted and implied over and over. Ryan then filed a And yet, due to their actions, they did injure people and they did inflict a lot of pain, not just on a couple of people, but on thousands. Though. Meier put the number at 40,323 defendants, though some have called that an overestimate. Between 2005 and 2013, Sonja Farak was performing laboratory tests at a state drug lab in Amherst while under the influence of narcotics. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. Shown results suggesting otherwise, she copped to contaminating samples "a few times" during the previous "two to three years.". She couldn't be sure which cases these were, Dookhan told investigators. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); NEXT: Zoning Makes the Green New Deal Impossible. She started seeing a substance abuse therapist around this time. In four 50-minute episodes, Netflix's latest shocker tells the story of Sonia Farak, a chemist who worked at a crime lab in Amherst, Massachusetts. Mucha gente que vio el programa se pregunta: dnde est Sonja Farak ahora? She tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. Disgraced drug lab chemist Sonja Farak emerges as her own attorney as defendant in $5.7 million federal lawsuit. In her June 17 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson dismissed former Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek's claims of qualified immunity a doctrine that gives legal immunity to some public officials accused of misconduct. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at GBH, Transparency in Coverage Cost-Sharing Disclosures. 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. The medical records stated that she did not have an existing drug problem that was amplified by her access to more substances. 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.". Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. 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. Coakley did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. The responsibility of the mess that she created should also rest upon the shoulders of her workplace that allowed her the opportunity to indulge so freely in drugs in the first place. Penate's lawsuit, which seeks $5.7 million in damages, is believed to be one of the last remaining suits tied to the scandals; the statute of limitations to file such suits has expired. ordered a report on the history of her illicit behavior. "No reasonablejury could conclude that this evidence is not favorable.". 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. 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. During the next four years, she would periodically sober up and then relapse. So, in a way, it is not from her that the queue of the blame should begin; it should be from the lab and the authorities themselves. "These drugswere tested fairly," Coakley claimed the day after Farak's arrest. "Dookhan's consistently high testing volumes should have been a clear indication that a more thorough analysis and review of her work was needed," an internal review found. They were all rendered unacceptable. From 2004 to 2013, Farak took advantage of . In the series, it's explained that Farak loved the energy the meth gave her. 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. 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. Cleverly omitting pronouns, she wrote that "after reviewing" the file, "every documenthas been disclosed." Farak was released from prison in 2015 and has kept a low profile since. His report deemed Dookhan the "sole bad actor" at the lab, a finding that remains disputed in some circles. concluded there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice in matters related to the Farak case. A second unsealed report into allegations of wrongdoing by police and prosecutors who handled the Farak evidence, overseen by retired state judges Peter Velis and Thomas Merrigan, drew less attention. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Kaczmarek was now juggling two scandals on opposite sides of the state. Farak as a young. During her trial, her defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski said that Farak wasnt taking drugs to party, but instead to control her depression. The place was closed as soon as Faraks crimes came to light. The cocaine, found in an unsealed, completed drug-testing kit, tested negativemeaning Farak had seemingly replaced the formerly "positive" drugs with falsified substances. And both pose the obvious question about how chemists could behave so badly for years without detection. 2. Given the account that Farak was a law-abiding citizen, it is questioned as to how an

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