One was clearly dated November 16, 2011a year and two months before her arrest. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. When Farak was arrested,former Attorney General Martha Coakley told the public investigators believed Farak tampered with drugs at the lab for only a few months. This past Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court filed a report saying that more than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases have been dismissed as a result of foul play by a former state drug lab chemist. The latest true crime offering from Netflix is the documentary series "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." It dives into the story of Sonja Farak, a chemist who worked for a Massachusetts state drug. | His is one of what lawyers say could be thousands of convictions questioned in the wake of the Farak scandal. 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 . "No reasonable individual could have failed to appreciate the unlawfulness of [Kaczmarek's] actions in these circumstances," Robertson wrote in her ruling. But she insisted the drugs didn't compromise her worka belief that one judge would aptly declare "belies logic.". (Netflix) A former state chemist, Sonja Farak, made headlines in 2013 when she was arrested for stealing and using drugs from a laboratory. Despite clear indications that Farak used a variety of narcoticsher worksheets mentioned phentermine, and that vial of powdered oxycodone-acetaminophen had been found at her benchKaczmarek also proceeded as if crack cocaine were Farak's sole drug. 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.". The attorney general's officeKaczmarek or her supervisorscould have asked a judge to determine whether the worksheets were actually privileged, as Kaczmarek later acknowledged. She was arrested in 2013 when the supervisor at the Amherst lab was made aware that two samples were missing. 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. PDF Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug A year later, in October 2014, prosecutors relented, granting access to the full evidence in Farak's case to attorney Luke Ryan. 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. Shortly into her role at Amherst, Farak decided to try liquid methamphetamine to ease her personal struggles. Massachusetts drug lab scandal tied to Sonja Farak and Hinton Lab Penate's suit said Kaczmarek withheld evidence that Farak used drugs at the lab for longer than the Massachusetts attorney general's office first claimed, and that he would not have been imprisoned based on tainted evidence. Its no big deal, 14-year-old Farak said to the Panama City News Herald. From the March 2019 issue, "Tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing," the forensic chemist scribbled on a diary worksheet she kept as part of her substance abuse therapy. The number is 888-999-2881. 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. Exhausted from the ongoing scandal in Boston, state officials were desperate for damage control. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus five years of probation. Thanks largely to the prosecutors' deception, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in October 2018 was forced to dismiss thousands of cases Farak may never have even touched, including every single conviction based on evidence processed at the Amherst lab from 2009 to the day of Farak's arrest in 2013. Penate is seeking a new trial, contending the conviction should be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tainted by Farak. The Hinton drug lab, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, appears to have been run largely on the honor system. A few months before her arrest, Farak's counselor recommended in-patient rehab. 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.". mentioned a New England Patriots game on Saturday, Dec. 24 which corresponded with a game date in 2011. In 2014, former Amherst drug lab chemist Sonja Farak was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison after it was discovered that she stole and used drugs that she was entrusted to test. At least 11,000 cases have already been dismissed due to fallout from the scandal, with thousands more likely to come. Who is Sonja Farak? Instead, Kaczmarek provided copies to Farak's own attorney and asked that all evidence from Farak's car, including the worksheets, be kept away from prying defense attorneys representing the thousands of people convicted of drug crimes based on Farak's work. Because of all that, it's no surprise that Farak was sent to prison in Massachusetts. It was an astoundingly light touch for the second state chemist arrested in six months. Her notes record on-the-job drug use ranging from small nips of the lab's baseline. Two detectives found Farak at a courthouse waiting to testify on an unrelated matter. Investigators gave that information to Kaczmarek and the state AG's office,according tohearings before thestate board that disciplines attorneys. 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. The special hearing officer found Kaczmarek "displayed no remorse" and was "not candid" during the disciplinary proceedings. Dookhan was sentenced to prison in 2013. It included information about the type of drugs she tampered with. ", The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Powered by. In Sonja Farak drug lab scandal, Mass - The Washington Post 3.3.2023 4:50 PM, 2022 Reason Foundation | YouTube Having barely investigated her, prosecutors indicted Farak only for the samples in her possession the day she was caught. 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. 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. It's been like this forever, or at least since girlhood. In the series, it's explained that Farak loved the energy the meth gave her. As he leafed through three boxes of evidence, he found the substance abuse worksheets and diaries. Sonja Farak | MA Drug Lab Scandals - GitHub Pages Compromised drug samples often fit the definition. 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. How to Fix a Drug Scandal is an American true crime documentary miniseries that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020. Maybe it's not a matter of checklists or reminders that prosecutors have to keep their eyes open for improprieties. Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). The court also dismissed all meth cases processed at the lab since Farak started in 2004. motion on behalf of another client to see the evidence. 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. One reason that didn't happen, he says: "the determination Coakley and her team made the morning after Farak's arrest that her misconduct did not affect the due process rights of any Farak defendants." The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime . 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. When the Farak scandal erupted, that misconduct came into view. In November 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, and perjury. Defense attorneys say withheld Farak notes implicate prosecutors - News 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. Between the two women, 47,000 drug convictions and guilty pleas have been dismissed in the last two years, many for misdemeanor possession. "Please don't let this get more complicated than we thought," Kaczmarek replied when Ballou, the lead investigator, flagged irregularities in Farak's analysis in a case featuring pain pills. This very well could have been the end of the investigative trail but for a few stubborn defense lawyers, who appealed the ruling. When defense lawyers asked to see evidence for themselves, state prosecutors smeared them as pursuing a "fishing expedition.". Dookhan had seeded public mistrust in the criminal justice system, which "now becomes an issue in every criminal trial for every defendant.". From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion Due to the conviction, prosecutors were forced to dismiss more than . She is not active on any social media platform and has kept her distance from the press. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. But why were a small handful of prosecutors allowed total control over evidence about one of the worst criminal justice failures in recent memory? 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. But whether anyone investigated her conduct during a brief stint working at the state's Boston drug lab is at . One colleague called her the "super woman of the lab. 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. Who is Sonja Farak, the former state drug lab chemist featured in the show? wrote to the Attorney Generals Office two days later. The charges against Penate were dismissed after Farak's conviction. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. Listen Live: Classic and Contemporary Celtic, Listen Live: Cape, Coast and Islands NPR Station, Boston nonprofit Street2Ivy is producing this generation's entrepreneurs. 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. Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. concluded there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice in matters related to the Farak case. When grand jury materials were eventually released to defense attorneys, then, they did not mention that these documents existed. 1. Because she did so, Plaintiff served more than five years in a state prison.". Release year: 2020. Farak as a young. Foster protested that portions of the evidentiary file in question might be privileged or not subject to disclosure. In 2012, she began taking from co-workers' samples, forging intake forms and editing the lab database to cover her tracks. "It was almost like Dookhan wanted to get caught," one of her former co-workers told state police in 2012. But without access to evidence showing how long Farak had been doing this, defendants with constitutional grounds for challenging their incarceration were held for months and even years longer than necessary. Inwardly though, Sonja Farak was striving. Sonja Farak in How to Fix a Drug Scandal. She was also under the influence when she took the stand during her trial. The information showed that Farak sought therapy for drug addiction and that her misconduct had been ongoing for years. 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. The governor also tapped a local attorney, David Meier, to count how many individuals' cases might be tainted. What Happened To Sonja From Netflix Drug Scandal Series - Refinery29 Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. 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. "I remember actually sitting on the stand and looking at it," Farak said of her first time swiping from evidence in a trafficking case, "knowing that I had analyzed the sample and that I had then tampered with it.". . Sonja Farak Today: Where Is She Now? | Heavy.com Most important, they found seven worksheets from Farak's substance abuse therapy. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. Per her own court testimony, as shown in the docu-series, Farak started working at a state drug lab in Amherst in 2004. Drug lab cases information | Mass.gov That settlement awaits approval by a judge. Sonja Farak: Prosecutors kept drug abuse evidence secret so - MEAWW They were found with their packaging sliced open and their contents apparently altered. And so, when she pleaded guilty in January 2014, Farak got what one attorney called "de facto immunity." During her trial, her defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski said that Farak wasnt taking drugs to party, but instead to control her depression. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. In January 2014, she pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and drug possession. Biden Embraces the Fearmongering, Vows To Squash D.C.'s Mild Criminal Justice Reforms, The Flap Over Biden's Comment About 2 Fentanyl Deaths Obscures Prohibition's Role in Causing Them, Conservatives Turn Further Against WarExcept Maybe With Mexico. "If she were suffering from back injurymaybe she took some oxys?" She started doing drugs almost as soon as she took the job at Amherst, but it was after years of negligence on her superiors part that her actions finally came to light. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. Coakley did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. 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? 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. 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. There is no allegation of misconduct against the local prosecutors who presented the case against Penate in Hampden County Superior Court. 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.". GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. Introduction. Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com Episode 1. But unlike with Dookhan, there were no independent investigations of Farak or the Amherst lab. 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. . The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. The Dookhan prosecution was barely underway, a grand jury having returned indictments a few weeks earlier. Former State Chemist High At Work For Nearly 8 Years, Documents Say The civil lawsuit was one of the last tied to prosecutors' disputed handling of the case against disgraced ex-chemist Sonja Farak, who was convicted in 2014 of ingesting drug samples she was. The defense bar had raised concerns that prosecutors might be "perceived as having a stake" in such an investigation. Here's Where Sonja Farak Is Now, After 'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' The story of the intertwining Farak and Penate evidence began in January 2013, when state police arrested Farak and searched her car. According to the documents released Tuesday, investigators found that Sonja Farak tested drug samples and testified in court while under the influence of methamphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, LSD . After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. Her role was to test for the presence of illegal substances, which could be instrumental in thousands of . It contained substances often used to make counterfeit cocaine, including soap, baking soda, candle wax, and modeling clay, plus lab dishes, wax paper, and fragments of a crack pipe. She first worked at the Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain for a year as a bacteriologist working on HIV tests before she transferred to the Amherst Lab for drug analysis. 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. As federal food benefits decline, Mass. Faraks therapist, Anna Kogan, wrote in her notes that Farak was worried about Nikki finding out about her addiction as well as the possible legal issues if she were ever caught. She also starting dipping into police-submitted samples, a "whole other level of morality," as Farak called it during a fall 2015 special grand jury session. 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. Thank you! 3.3.2023 5:45 PM, Jacob Sullum | Shown results suggesting otherwise, she copped to contaminating samples "a few times" during the previous "two to three years.". His report deemed Dookhan the "sole bad actor" at the lab, a finding that remains disputed in some circles. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. "No reasonablejury could conclude that this evidence is not favorable.". After serving just a year of her 18 month sentence, Farak was released from prison in 2015. How to write better therapy progress notes: 10 examples Even the master's degree on her rsum was fabricated. "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.". In the aftermath, the court felt it necessary to make clear that "no prosecutorhas the authority to decline to disclose exculpatory information.". Though. 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. Despite such unequivocal findings of misconduct, the court removed language about Kaczmarek and Foster from notification letters to those whose cases have been dismissed, which will be sent out in early 2019. "he didn't request a warrant. 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.. Below is an outline of her charges. 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.". The Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) is reviewing the actions of three prosecutors in the investigation of the scandal to determine whether any of them deliberately withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. In the only quasi-independent probe of the Farak scandal ever ordered, Attorney General Healey and a district attorney appointed two retired judges to investigate in summer 2015. email highlighted in the Velis-Merrigan report.