Annie Dookhan: Massachusetts; White Elephant case; Supreme Judicial Court hears arguments on fate of 24,000 cases linked to Annie Dookhan...“Stepping up to solve a mess created by the commonwealth ... would be a bailout for the commonwealth,” said Matthew Segal, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. Public defenders, the ACLU and prosecutors all agreed that a major portion of the defendants involved in the 24,000 cases have already served their sentences. But ACLU attorneys argued that the convictions have long-lasting effects on people - including some who may face deportation proceedings." Reporter Bob McGovern; Boston Herald.

In the years since I started publishing this Blog I have become increasingly disturbed by the 'white elephant' in the room: Sheer, unadulterated, willful   misconduct in the criminal justice system - much  of it involving forensic evidence - committed by lab technicians,  pathologists, police officers, prosecutors and others.  Think Annie Dookhan; Think Sonia Farak; Think David Kofoed; Think Charles Smith; Think Ken Anderson; Think Gene Morrison. Think Michael West;   I have therefore decided to run this image of a white elephant at the top of every applicable post henceforth, to draw our reader's attention to   what I see as a major problem in all too many criminal justice system's - my own included.  Harold Levy; Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009;

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