Monday, May 27, 2013

Annie Dookhan: New lawsuit singles out top officials; Aims at highlighting policy failures and failure of supervisors who should have known what was going on to stop the alleged misconduct. Boston Herald.


STORY:  "Lab crisis hits state house: New lawsuit targets top officials,"   by reporter Erin Smith, published on May 26, 2013, by Erin Smith, published on May 26, 20134, by the Boston Herald.

GIST: "A man whose drug conviction was reversed after he was sprung from prison because of the massive drug lab scandal is targeting former top state officials in a potential “nightmare” experts say could cast a spotlight on policy failures in the Patrick administration and dog the governor if he pursues a White House bid in 2016. “Once you get into discovery, it could be a nightmare,” said Boston University political history professor Thomas Whalen. “Gov. Patrick has said he had no knowledge of this, so we’ll see who knew what. The courts will open this up. It could be a can of worms for the Patrick administration.” David Jones, who spent more than two years in prison based on drug evidence analyzed by rogue chemist Annie Dookhan before his convictions were overturned in March, is suing former Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby, former state Public Health commissioner John Auerbach and three former top lab bosses. Unlike a previous federal lawsuit filed in February that names Dookhan, Bigby, Auerbach and prosecutors, Jones’ complaint leaves Dookhan, who is accused of tainting drug evidence in thousands of cases, and prosecutors off the hook and places the blame squarely on the administration. “Her misconduct is widely known and she’s being held accountable in the criminal courts, but at this point no one is holding her supervisors accountable,” said attorney Michael Tumposky, who filed the suit on behalf of Jones. “The purpose of this lawsuit is to highlight the policy failures as well as the failure of the supervisors who should have seen what was going on and to a certain extent knew what was going on and didn’t do anything to stop it.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2013/05/lab_crisis_hits_state_house

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to the prosecution of Annie Dookhan and the Massachussett's lab crisis and its implications.

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The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.  
  



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