Essex County District Attorney’s office braces for fallout from drug lab shutdown

The Essex County District Attorney’s office may have its hands full with legal challenges after the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory reported approximately 8,451 drug samples from Essex County were affected by testing errors from a state crime lab.The Department of Public Health’s Jamaica Plain Laboratory was shut down the morning of Thursday, Aug. 30 after an investigation revealed chemist Annie Dookhan of Franklin, who had worked at the facility for nine years, had not been using proper testing protocol. In total, over 50,000 drug samples involving 34,000 defendants were affected in testing done from 2003 to 2011.”We are in the process of analyzing that information in an effort to determine the number of cases affected,” said Essex District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan in a statement Friday. “We have shared this list with the Essex County Bar Advocates and Committee for Public Counsel Services in an effort to identify defendants as quickly as possible. At this time, our priority is to identify defendants who are currently incarcerated.”According to the Associated Press, the Jamaica Plain lab was involved in certifying drug samples in cases submitted by local police from around the state. It was run by the state Department of Public Health until July 1, when State Police took over the operation as part of a budget directive.Monahan said there is a long process ahead for district attorneys to work with the Department of Corrections to determine which samples were tampered with, what cases they will affect, and who among the affected is still incarcerated.”It’s difficult to know how many cases we’re talking about,” said Monahan, especially since there is no limit to how much evidence was submitted for testing on each case.Now with the Jamaica Plain lab closed, the process could take even longer.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].