Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. The attorney general's representative at these hearings was Assistant Attorney General Kris Foster, a recent hire. Sonja Farak Today: Where Is She Now? | Heavy.com In worksheet notes dated Thursday, Dec. 22, Farak wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." Although the year she wrote the notes wasn't listed . Thus, only defendants whose evidence she tested in the six-month window before her arrest could challenge their cases. wrote to the Attorney Generals Office two days later. 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. Drug lab cases information | Mass.gov memo, Kaczmarek told her supervisors that "Farak's admissions on her 'emotional worksheets' recovered from her car detail her struggle with substance abuse. She was also testifying in court while high. 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. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. 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. 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. Report shows more than 24k wrongful convictions dismissed in drug lab The Netflix docuseries ends by acknowledging that Farak received an 18-month sentence, and that defense attorney Luke Ryan was able . At the very least, we expected that we would get everything they collected in their case against Farak. Flannery, now in private practice, said the substance abuse worksheets are clearly relevant to defendants challenging Faraks analysis. The new numbers appear in a report issued by a court-designated "Special Master." Her wrongdoings were exposed when unsealed cocaine and a crack pipe were found under her desk. 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. They never searched Farak's computer or her home. After her arrest, she received support from her parents, who showed up to her court appearances, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. Coakley assigned the case against Dookhan to Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek and her supervisor, John Verner. Both have since left the attorney general's office for other government positions. Sonja Farak (Netflix) An ex-lab chemist Sonja Farak's negligence and misdeeds shocked US when she was arrested in 2013 for stealing and using drugs from the lab where she worked. A final decision is still pending and must be approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Out of "an abundance of caution," Kaczmarek didn't present them to the grand jury that was convened to determine whether to indict Farak. Even the master's degree on her rsum was fabricated. 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. | After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. The place was closed as soon as Faraks crimes came to light. . After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. Shown results suggesting otherwise, she copped to contaminating samples "a few times" during the previous "two to three years.". "It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents," Ryan wrote to the attorney general's office. Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at GBH, Transparency in Coverage Cost-Sharing Disclosures. "Forensic evidence is not uniquely immune from the risk of manipulation," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. 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. Where Is Sonja Farak From Netflix's 'Drug Scandal' Doc Now? The report 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. 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. T he day Sonja Farak's world unraveled - the day a crack pipe and sliced evidence bags of cocaine were found at her workstation - started like many others: she attended court. Sonja Farak, a state forensic chemist in western Massachusetts, was minutes away from testifying in a drug case in early 2013 when attorneys learned she was about to be arrested on charges of. This is merely a fishing expedition, Foster wrote in Farak apparently still tested each caseunlike Annie Dookhan, another Massachusetts chemist who was arrested five months prior to Farak for fabricating test results. His email was one of more than 800 released with the Velis-Merrigan report. In court, she added that there was "no smoking gun" in the evidence. With the Dookhan case so fresh, reporters immediately labeled Farak "the second chemist. Two detectives found Farak at a courthouse waiting to testify on an unrelated matter. 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. One was clearly dated November 16, 2011a year and two months before her arrest. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. Foster Perhaps, as criminal justice scandals inevitably emerge, we need to get more independent eyes on the evidence from the start. Because she did so, Plaintiff served more than five years in a state prison.". Sonja Farak: Prosecutors kept drug abuse evidence secret so - MEAWW 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. From 2004 to 2013, Farak took advantage of . The story of the intertwining Farak and Penate evidence began in January 2013, when state police arrested Farak and searched her car. Farak as a young. Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug But she worried they might be privileged as health information. Approximately one year later, she pled guilty to tampering with evidence, unlawful possession, and stealing narcotics. Deborah Becker Twitter Host/ReporterDeborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. The lead prosecutor on Farak's case knew about the diaries, as did supervisors at the state attorney general's office. At some point, the attorney general's office stopped chasing leads entirely. Instead, she submitted an intentionally vague letter to the judge claiming defense attorneys already had everything. 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. On the surface, their crimes dont seem as injurious and they dont seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. 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. Her medical records included notes from Faraks therapist in Amherst, Anna Kogan. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. Episode 2. Farak is amongst one of the 18 defendants battling the lawsuit filed by Rolando Penate. In November 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, and perjury. Coakley's office finally launched a criminal investigation in July 2012, more than a year after the infraction was discovered by Dookhan's supervisors. "Annie Dookhan's alleged actions corrupted the integrity of the criminal justice system, and there are many victims as a result of this," Coakley said at a press conference. wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." Farak signed a certification of drug samples in Penate's case on Dec. 22, 2011. Mucha gente que vio el programa se pregunta: dnde est Sonja Farak ahora? Terms Of Use, (Annie Dookhan (left) and Sonja Farak, Associated Press). The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Between the two women, 47,000 drug convictions and guilty pleas have been dismissed in the last two years, many for misdemeanor possession. The prosecutors have been tied to the drug lab scandal involving disgraced former state chemist Sonja Farak, who admitted to stealing and using drugs from an Amherst state lab. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting. In Farak's car, police found a "works kit"crack cocaine, a spatula, and copper mesh, often used as a pipe filter. Velis said he stood by the findings. 1. Between 2005 and 2013, Sonja Farak was performing laboratory tests at a state drug lab in Amherst while under the influence of narcotics. It included information about the type of drugs she tampered with. February 2013 email, to which he attached the worksheets. 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. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. What Netflix's How To Fix a Drug Scandal didn't tell you - Esquire Her ar-rest led to the dismissal of thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts. Initially, she had represented herself in answer to the complaints lodged against her, but later, she turned to Susan Sachs, who represented her since, not just on the Penate lawsuit, but also on any other case that emerged as the result of her actions in Amherst. Support GBH. 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. Even though Farak found a job after graduation and was settled down with her partner, she continued to struggle with depression and felt like a stranger in her body. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. Two drug lab chemists' shocking crimes cripple a state's judicial system and blur the lines of justice for lawyers, officials and thousands of inmates. It had no surveillance cameras, laughable security on evidence safes, and "laissez faire" management, which the state inspector general determined was the "most glaring factor that led to the Dookhan crisis. 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. Here's Where Sonja Farak Is Now, After 'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' During the next four years, she would periodically sober up and then relapse. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff "A forensic analyst responding to a request from a law enforcement official may feel pressureor have an incentiveto alter the evidence in a manner favorable to the prosecution.". Follow us so you don't miss a thing! Two weeks after Ryans discovery, the Attorney Generals Office But unlike with Dookhan, no one launched a bigger investigation of Farak. She continued to experience suicidal thoughts, but instead of going through with those thoughts, she started taking the drugs that she would be testing at work. The next month, Ryan asked again. 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. Investigators either missed or declined opportunities to dig very deep. Dookhan had seeded public mistrust in the criminal justice system, which "now becomes an issue in every criminal trial for every defendant.". The lax security and regulations of the place and the negligent supervision of the employees and the stock of standards are the reasons why Farak was encouraged to do what she did. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The Chemists and the Cover-Up". The information showed that Farak sought therapy for drug addiction and that her misconduct had been ongoing for years. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. What Happened To Sonja From Netflix Drug Scandal Series - Refinery29 "No reasonablejury could conclude that this evidence is not favorable.". 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. 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. The medical records stated that she did not have an existing drug problem that was amplified by her access to more substances. At the time of Penates trial, the state Attorney Generals Office contended Faraks misdeeds dated back only as far as 2012. Foster and another assistant attorney general assented to that motion. In January 2014, she pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and drug possession. When defense lawyers asked to see evidence for themselves, state prosecutors smeared them as pursuing a "fishing expedition.". answered that the state considered the evidence irrelevant to any case other than Faraks.. 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. A few months before her arrest, Farak's counselor recommended in-patient rehab. 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. The drug lab technician was sent to prison for 18 months, but was released in 2015. Farak started at Amherst lab in Aug 2004 p. 32. Shortly into her role at Amherst, Farak decided to try liquid methamphetamine to ease her personal struggles. If they'd kept digging, defendants might still have learned the crucial facts. In a 61 ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2017, the defense bar, led by public defenders and the Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), won the dismissal of almost every conviction based on Dookhan's analysismore than 36,000 cases in all. Inwardly though, Sonja Farak was striving. Inwardly though, Sonja was struggling. Reporting for this story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The criminal prosecution wasn't the only investigation of the Dookhan scandal. The former judges and the state police officers who helped them conducted a thorough review, said Emalie Gainey, spokeswoman for Attorney General Maura Healey. To multiple courts' amazement, her incessant drug use never caught the attention of her co-workers. Kaczmarek also oversaw the prosecution for the attorney general's office in that case. Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. 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. Several defense attorneys who called for the Velis-Merrigan investigation say the former judges and their state police investigators got it wrong. State prosecutors gave Farak the immunity they had declined to grant two years earlier, then asked when she started analyzing samples while high. | Penate argued the court should follow those findings. 3.3.2023 4:50 PM, 2022 Reason Foundation | In 2012, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court foundegregious prosecutorial misconduct after an assistant district attorney withheldevidence a judge had ordered him toproduce for the defense of a teenageraccused of statutory rape. 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. 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. A scandal erupts, raising questions for the thousands of defendants in her cases. That motion was denied, and the notice letters will explain Farak's tampering without any mention of prosecutorial misconduct. Who is Sonja Farak, the former state drug lab chemist featured in the show? The cocaine, found in an unsealed, completed drug-testing kit, tested negativemeaning Farak had seemingly replaced the formerly "positive" drugs with falsified substances. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. "No reasonable individual could have failed to appreciate the unlawfulness of [Kaczmarek's] actions in these circumstances," Robertson wrote in her ruling. The state's top court took an even harsher view, ruling in October 2018 that the attorney general's office as an institution was responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct of its former employees. 1. memo to Judge Kinder the next week, Foster said she reviewed the file, and said every document in it had already been disclosed. 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? There were also newspaper articles about other officials caught stealing drugs, including one with a scribbled note, "Thank god I'm not a law enforcement officer." The court decided to uphold a ruling dismissing charges against the defendant, a juvenile at the time of the alleged offense identified only as Washington W. The justices didnt name his prosecutor, David Omiunu, who was identified by The Eye from other court records. Where Is Sonja Farak From 'How To Fix A Drug Scandal' Now? - Women's Health That settlement awaits approval by a judge. There is nothing to indicate that the allegations against Farak date back to the time she tested the drugs in Penates case. When the Farak scandal erupted, that misconduct came into view. . 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. As extensively detailed in How to Fix a Drug Scandal, Farak was arrested on January 19, 2013. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. In 2012, she began taking from co-workers' samples, forging intake forms and editing the lab database to cover her tracks. TherapyNotes. As the state's top court put it, the criminal investigation into Farak was "cursory at best.". She started seeing a substance abuse therapist around this time. "I was totally controlled by my addiction," Farak later testified. We couldn't do it without you. Earlier that day, a chemist at the Amherst drug lab had tracked two samples that were missing from the evidence locker to Sonja Farak's bench. The Attorney Generals Office, Velis and Merrigan and the state police declined to answer questions about the handling of the Farak evidence. When grand jury materials were eventually released to defense attorneys, then, they did not mention that these documents existed. 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. And both pose the obvious question about how chemists could behave so badly for years without detection. If chemists had to testify in person, Coakley warned melodramatically, misdemeanor drug prosecutions "would essentially grind to a halt. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. Joseph . They tend to be more freeform notes about the session and your impressions of the client's statements and demeanour. 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. Would love your thoughts, please comment. 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. Asked for comment, Foster in January objected through an attorney that the judge never gave her an opportunity to defend herself and that his ruling left an "indelible stain on her reputation.". Massachusetts drug lab scandal tied to Sonja Farak and Hinton Lab 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. A drug chemist . On a Friday afternoon in January 2013, a call came in to Coakley's office: "We have another Annie Dookhan out west.". But she proceeded on the hunch that Farak only became addicted in the months before her arrest, and her colleagues stonewalled people who were skeptical of that timeline. But the Farak scandal is in many ways worse, since the chemist's crimes were compounded by drug abuse on the job and prosecutorial misconduct that the state's top court called "the deceptive withholding of exculpatory evidence by members of the Attorney General's office.". He also Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015. Hearing Officer Finds Misconduct Against Former Drug Lab Prosecutors - WBUR Dookhan was sentenced to prison in 2013. 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.