Sonja Farak: Prosecutors kept drug abuse evidence secret so that false convictions were not dismissed
Thousands of drug convictions across Massachusetts had to be dismissed due to the gross misconduct by former lab chemist Sonja Farak.
Farak had been a drug addict who had pleaded guilty to stealing drugs from samples to be tested while she worked at the Amherst drug lab. She was stealing the drugs for her own personal use. Netflix's new documentary titled 'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' will detail the case of Farak's negligence and how prosecutorial misconduct also played a large role in the delay of the truth coming out.
The case of Sonja Farak
Sonja Farak had admitted to stealing and using drugs from the drug lab where she worked as a chemist for around 9 years. She was arrested in 2013 when the supervisor at the Amherst lab was made aware that two samples were missing. These samples were retrieved from Farak's desk and ended up testing negative as compared to the results that she had written.
Farak's job was to test drug samples that were taken from people and verify whether they were real drugs or not. Any negligence on her part would lead to the wrongful conviction of a person.
Drug Addiction
While on the job, she had tested a variety of drugs that would come in and so had access to them. Given the hectic and packed workload and lack of structure, Farak happily helped herself to whatever drug she pleased.
She admitted that she had tried several drugs such as methamphetamine, amphetamine, ketamine, LSD, cocaine, crack while on the job. This led to the question of how long had she been doing drugs on the job; how many cases were wrongfully convicted?
Prosecutorial Misconduct
According to Judge Richard Carey, the actions of two former assistant attorney generals were much more damaging. Farak was arrested after drug paraphernalia was found in her car and the attorney general's office took a box of papers that proved just how long Farak had been on drugs while on the job.
The box of papers had been labeled as 'assorted lab paperwork' with the prosecutors trying to hide it and withhold evidence. District Attorney Luke Ryan, some of whose clients had been locked up on convictions made by Farak, fought hard for the cases to be dismissed.
Every motion that was filed to retrieve the files by Ryan was met with resistance. He was put in touch with a woman Kris Foster who was young and inexperienced. When he asked her for access to the paperwork, she shared that given it was an ongoing prosecution, access was denied.
During one of the earlier Farak hearings, Ryan sought all the exculpatory evidence but Foster had written a letter to the judge saying that everything had been disclosed. Ryan's motion to inspect was denied. However, he kept fighting to see the 'assorted lab paperwork' until the case was closed until he finally got access.
He found diary journals, a Service Net diary card, notes to her counselor, notes from substance abuse programs all of which indicated that she had been using drugs since 2004.
The Emails
Luke Ryan also retrieved threads of emails that were in chronological order showing that the Attorney General's office was well aware of Farak's long-term drug use. In one of the emails, one of the prosecutors Anne Kaczmarek had openly stated that she did not like Ryan and actively took steps to minimize the investigation.
One of her emails read, "Please don’t let this get more complicated than we thought. If she were suffering from back injury – maybe she took some oxys?"
The primary charge against Foster and Kaczmarek was the withholding of exculpatory evidence. Judge Richard Carey dubbed their actions as a "fraud upon the court".
The Aftermath
Ryan had been lobbying hard to get the evidence and records which could prove his clients and others should get new trials. After the SJC ordered a new and improved investigation to the attorney general's office, Ryan was able to access the files which showed the drug use had gone on longer than the timeline mentioned.
This led to the dismissal of approximately 35,000 cases that Farak had tested the drug samples for.