Emma Camp In 2009, Farak branched out to the lab's amphetamine, phentermine, and cocaine standards. 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. Only a few months after Dookhan's conviction, it was discovered that another Massachusetts crime lab worker, Sonja Farak, who was addicted to drugs, not only stole her supply from the. | ", Prosecutors nationwide pretty uniformly backed this argument, which the Supreme Court rejected in a 54 opinion. 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. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. This is the story of Farak's drug-induced wrongdoings, and it's the. Its no big deal, 14-year-old Farak said to the Panama City News Herald. At least 11,000 cases have already been dismissed due to fallout from the scandal, with thousands more likely to come. "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.". Regarding the cases that she had handled, the Massachusetts courts threw out every case in the Amherst lab during her tenure. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. Having barely investigated her, prosecutors indicted Farak only for the samples in her possession the day she was caught. Kaczmarek is one of three former prosecutors whose role in the prosecution of Farak later became the focus of several lawsuits and disciplinary hearings. 1. 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. Deval Patrick's office didn't learn about the protocol breach until December 2011. Judge Kinder ordered her to produce all potentially privileged documents for his review to determine whether they could be disclosed. Local prosecutors also remained in the dark. As How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores, Farak had long struggled with her mental . email highlighted in the Velis-Merrigan report. Farak was a former lab chemist at a lab in Amherst, Massachusetts and was convicted of stealing and using drugs from the lab where she worked. Chemist Sonja Farak pleaded guilty to "tampering with evidence" back in 2014 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. When she got married, it turned out that her wife, too, suffered from her own demons, and their collective anguish made Sonja desperate for a reprieve from this life. 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.". mentioned a New England Patriots game on Saturday, Dec. 24 which corresponded with a game date in 2011. Farak trabaj en el laboratorio Amherst desde el verano de 2004 y poco despus comenz a tomar las drogas del laboratorio. Another worksheet had the month and weekdays for December 2011, which police easily could have determined by cross-referencing holidays or looking up a New England Patriots game mentioned in one entry. But Ryan, who represented Penate, suspected it was more extensive. 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. In a March 2013 Both scandals undercut confidence in the criminal justice system and the validity of forensic analysis. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. "he didn't request a warrant. How to Fix a Drug Scandal is an American true crime documentary miniseries that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020. On paper, these numbers made Dookhan the most productive chemist at Hinton; the next most productive averaged around 300 samples per month. Kaczmarek was now juggling two scandals on opposite sides of the state. 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. After her arrest, she received support from her parents, who showed up to her court appearances, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. When a Therapy Session starts, the software automatically creates a To-Do list item reminding users to create the relevant documentation. That settlement awaits approval by a judge. This immediately provoked questions about the thousands of cases in which her findings had contributed to the imprisonment of an individual. In fall 2013, a Springfield, Massachusetts, judge convened hearings with the explicit aim of establishing "the timing and scope" of Farak's "alleged criminal conduct.". Episode 1. In January 2014, she pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and drug possession. 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. In January of 2013, Sonja Farak, a chemist at a state crime lab in Massachusetts, was arrested for tampering with evidence related to criminal drug cases (Small, 2020).A year later, Farak pleaded guilty to tampering with drug evidence, theft of a controlled substance, and drug possession .She received a sentence of 18 months with 5 years of probation and was released in 2015. "No reasonablejury could conclude that this evidence is not favorable.". February 2013 email, to which he attached the worksheets. It's been like this forever, or at least since girlhood. 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. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. Sonja Farak is in the grip of a rubbed-raw depression that hasn't responded to medication. Despite her status as a free woman (who has seemingly disappeared from the public eye), Farak's wrongdoings continue to make waves in the Massachusetts courts. When defense lawyers asked to see evidence for themselves, state prosecutors smeared them as pursuing a "fishing expedition.". Dookhan was now spending less time at her lab bench and more time testifying in court about her results. "I dont know how the Velis report reached the conclusion it did after reviewing the underlying email documents, said Randy Gioia, deputy chief counsel at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the states public defender office. 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. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. The next month, Ryan asked again. After serving just a year of her 18 month sentence, Farak was released from prison in 2015. A year later, in October 2014, prosecutors relented, granting access to the full evidence in Farak's case to attorney Luke Ryan. He emailed them to Kaczmareksubject: "FARAK Admissions." Most important, they found seven worksheets from Farak's substance abuse therapy. A local prosecutor also asked Ballou to look into a case Farak had tested as far back as 2005. How to Fix A Drug Scandal takes a one-woman issue in a crumbling police drug lab and follows the way it blew up an entire legal system. Heres what you need to know about Sonja Farak: Farak was born on January 13, 1978, in Rhode Island to Stanley and Linda Farak. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. After serving for 13 months, she was released on parole in 2015. Foster 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. From the April 2023 issue, Billy Binion Velis said he stood by the findings. Gainey added that Healey is pleased with their conclusion that prosecutors and the state police acted appropriately. Instead, she submitted an intentionally vague letter to the judge claiming defense attorneys already had everything. Foster said that Kaczmarek told her all relevant evidence had been turned over and that her supervisor told her to write the letter, though both denied these claims. "Dookhan's consistently high testing volumes should have been a clear indication that a more thorough analysis and review of her work was needed," an internal review found. Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal tells the story of two women whose actions brought to light the negligence of the system that is supposed to deliver justice to everyone. motion on behalf of another client to see the evidence. According to a newspaper article from 1992, she was the first female in Rhode Island to be on a high school football team. They never searched Farak's computer or her home. To multiple courts' amazement, her incessant drug use never caught the attention of her co-workers. When the Farak scandal erupted, that misconduct came into view. Inwardly though, Sonja was struggling. 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. The drug lab technician was sent to prison for 18 months, but was released in 2015. 1. I felt euphoric, Kogan wrote of Farak. Foster's first stepper ethical obligations and office protocolshould have been to look through the evidence to see what had already been handed over. She is not active on any social media platform and has kept her distance from the press. Powered by. This story is an effort to reconstruct what was known about Farak and Dookhan's crimes, and when, based on court filings, diaries, and interviews with the major players. This might not have mattered as much if the investigators had followed the evidence that Farak had been using drugs for at least a year and almost certainly longer. In 2019, the chemist was spotted at federal court in Springfield, MA , attending a civil case. Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. Prosecutors have an obligation to give the defense exculpatory evidence including anything that could weaken evidence against defendants. In "How to Fix a Drug Scandal," a new four-part Netflix docuseries, documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr presents the stories of Massachusetts drug lab chemists Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak, and . As he leafed through three boxes of evidence, he found the substance abuse worksheets and diaries. The attorney general's officeKaczmarek or her supervisorscould have asked a judge to determine whether the worksheets were actually privileged, as Kaczmarek later acknowledged. ", But another co-worker was suspicious, particularly since he "never saw Dookhan in front of a microscope.". The scandal led. Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. Her access to evidence was not restricted, and she continued testifying in court. compelled release of additional drug treatment records, which indicated Farak used a variety of drugs that she stole from the lab for years. Among the papers they seized were handwritten worksheets Farak completed for drug-abuse therapy. The worksheets, essentially counseling notes, showed that Farak had been using drugs often on the job for much longer than the attorney general's office had claimed. It was. Farak had started taking drugs on the job within months of joining the lab. We couldn't do it without you. 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.. 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.". With the Dookhan case so fresh, reporters immediately labeled Farak "the second chemist. 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 . The hotline is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. And so, when she pleaded guilty in January 2014, Farak got what one attorney called "de facto immunity." With your support, GBH will continue to innovate, inspire and connect through reporting you value that meets todays moments. "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 stole, ingested or manufactured drugs almost every day for eight years while working as a chemist at a state lab in Amherst, Massachusetts. Shawn Musgrave is a reporter who was until recently based in Boston. In an August 2013 email, Ryan asked Assistant Attorney General Kris Foster to review evidence taken from Farak. Name. Farak started at Amherst lab in Aug 2004 p. 32. wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." On the surface, their crimes dont seem as injurious and they dont seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others. 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. "I was totally controlled by my addiction," Farak later testified. One was clearly dated November 16, 2011a year and two months before her arrest. But unlike with Dookhan, no one launched a bigger investigation of Farak. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. Compromised drug samples often fit the definition. It declined Farak's offer of a detailed confession in exchange for leniency, nixing the offer without even negotiating terms. Accessibility | A few months before her arrest, Farak's counselor recommended in-patient rehab. They were all rendered unacceptable. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2015by which time the current state attorney general, Maura Healey, had been electedthat it was "imperative" for the government to "thoroughly investigate the timing and scope of Farak's misconduct." Why did she do that and where has it left her? "Thousands of defendants were kept in the dark for far too long about the government misconduct in their cases," the ACLU and the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state's public defense agency, wrote in a motion. At the time of her arrest, she had resided in 37 Laurel Park in Northampton. | A hearing on their motions is scheduled next month. The report 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. 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. Please note that if your case has been identified for dismissal, it could take approximately 2-3 months for the relevant court records to be updated. Would love your thoughts, please comment. She said, It was about coping; it certainly wasnt about having fun; I dont think shes had fun in quite a while.. But she insisted the drugs didn't compromise her worka belief that one judge would aptly declare "belies logic.". Below is an outline of her charges. Even the master's degree on her rsum was fabricated. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. 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? Even before her arrest, the Department of Public Health had launched an internal inquiry into how such misconduct had gone undetected for such a long time. Shown results suggesting otherwise, she copped to contaminating samples "a few times" during the previous "two to three years.". | memo, Kaczmarek told her supervisors that "Farak's admissions on her 'emotional worksheets' recovered from her car detail her struggle with substance abuse. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. At the time of Penates trial, the state Attorney Generals Office contended Faraks misdeeds dated back only as far as 2012. ", Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. denied Penates motion to dismiss the case, saying there was no evidence that Faraks misconduct extended to his case. You can try, Suspensions and a reprimand proposed for prosecutors admonished in drug lab scandal. Netflix released a new docu-series called "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." The Farak documents indicate she used drugs on the very day she certified samples as heroin in Penates case. 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. Where is Sonja now? Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. The number is 888-999-2881. 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. After the Supreme Court's decision, a skeptical colleague started tracking how many microscope slides Dookhan used to test samples for cocaine. Dookhan had seeded public mistrust in the criminal justice system, which "now becomes an issue in every criminal trial for every defendant.". Why Won't Maryland Sell Me a Goddamn Beer? If Farak found a substance was a true drug, the person it was confiscated from could be convicted of a substance-related crime. 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. 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. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. But a crucial issue was not before the court. Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. There is nothing to indicate that the allegations against Farak date back to the time she tested the drugs in Penates case. The lead prosecutor on Farak's case knew about the diaries, as did supervisors at the state attorney general's office. Here are those forms with the admissions of drug use I was talking about," a state police sergeant wrote to Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek, who led Faraks prosecution, in a 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. 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. It's not as bad as Dookhan, they asserted and implied over and over. The governor also tapped a local attorney, David Meier, to count how many individuals' cases might be tainted. "The gravity of the present case cannot be overstated," Kaczmarek wrote in her memo recommending a prison sentence of five to seven years. Her answer: more than eight years before her arrest. Who is Sonja Farak, the former state drug lab chemist featured in the show? El 6 de enero de 2014, Farak se declar culpable de los cargos en su contra. Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. ", Prosecutors maintained that Faraks rogue behavior spanned just a few months. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff Foster and another assistant attorney general assented to that motion. As federal food benefits decline, Mass. He didn't buy her quibbling that there's a difference between an explicit lie and obfuscation by grammar. Without even interviewing Foster, they determined there was "no evidence" of obstruction of justice by her, by Kaczmarek, or by any state prosecutor. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Scott Allen. motion with Hampden Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Kinder to see the evidence for himself. Both have since left the attorney general's office for other government positions. His email was one of more than 800 released with the Velis-Merrigan report. But in a The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime .