The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog
I’ve written on this blog previously about the Massachusetts drug lab scandal, and I tweeted earlier this week about the latest , very significant development surrounding that scandal. This colossal mess began almost 5 years ago, with the discovery that a Massachusetts drug lab chemist, Annie Dookhan, had spent years intentionally falsifying the lab tests […]
Search Results for: Dookhan
Massachusetts Alcohol Breath Tests Temporarily Suspended In OUI Cases
As I’ve said many times, people often ask me how I can defend certain types of clients accused of crimes such as, for example, drunk driving or sex offenses. And I give them the same answer, every time: “Because my client might be innocent.” Just yesterday, (August 23 2017,) the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, the […]
MASSACHUSETTS DRUG CRIMES: CHARGED DOESN’T MEAN GUILTY – PART TWO OF TWO
In my previous post on this topic, I wrote about how prosecutors in Massachusetts must prove that any allegedly illegal substances that the Commonwealth accuses a defendant of possessing, using, or distributing, have actually been tested by a qualified chemist in the state drug lab, and that the substance is indeed either a controlled substance […]
Massachusetts Drug Crimes: Charged Doesn’t Mean Guilty – Part One of Two
When what you do in your profession involves defending as legal counsel people who have been charged with some very serious crimes, a common question is “How can you defend people who have been accused of such serious crimes?” My answer, as a Wrentham Mass. criminal defense attorney, is always the same: “Because they may […]
Massachusetts Drug Lab Scandal: Why Isn’t Night Court Being Used Here?
Surrounding all of the very necessary legal reactions to the scandal surrounding the Massachusetts state drug lab – centrally, the need to ensure that defendants who were convicted through drug samples handled by lab suspect Annie Dookhan receive the necessary legal review of their cases – one glaring omission seems to be occurring. The trial […]
Even More Massachusetts Convicts May Be Affected in Drug Lab Scandal
I’ve already filed a post in this blog about the Massachusetts drug lab scandal, and before I get to today’s news about it, here’s a brief recap. In order to secure a conviction in most drug cases, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts must first establish, through expert testimony, that the substance that the defendant was accused […]
Massachusetts Crime Lab Chemist May Have Altered Evidence In Thousands Of Cases
Drug offense cases are always interesting, in part because in order to secure a conviction in most of these cases, the Commonwealth must establish through expert testimony that the substance the defendant was accused of possessing was indeed a controlled substance. Because of this an a ruling that was handed down by the SJC in […]