The Massachusetts Bar Association has been asked by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security to inform the criminal bar of critical information in the
wake of the news of wrongdoing by a former chemist at the
Department of Public Health's Drug Laboratory at the Hinton State
Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain.
The commonwealth has provided the Committee for Public Services,
the District Attorney's Offices and the U.S. Attorney's Office, as
CORI certified agencies, with access to a database of information
to identify individuals whose cases potentially may have been
impacted.
Such access will also be provided to the private criminal
defense bar. Because the information contained in that database
contains criminal offender record information and must be handled
in accordance with state and federal law, any requesting attorney
will be required to submit an agreement of non-disclosure of CORI
form. Visit www.massbar.org/practicealerts to access the practice
alert and links to the related nondisclosure form.
Any attorney who 1) handled a drug-related matter between the
years of 2003 and 2012, inclusive, in which the drug analysis may
have been conducted in the DPH Drug Lab; or 2) handled a matter in
which the defendant's sentence may have been enhanced by a
drug-related conviction based on conduct between the years of 2003
and 2012, inclusive, in which the drug analysis may have been
conducted in the DPH Drug Lab, may seek access to the
aforementioned database by filling out the non-disclosure form and
attestation to their compliance with CORI.
Note that the DPH Drug Lab served Barnstable, Bristol, Essex,
Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties. Middlesex
County cases were transitioned to the State Police Crime Lab in
Sudbury in two phases beginning in 2009. Ashland, Concord,
Framingham, Hudson, Marlborough, Natick and Weston Police
Departments began using the State Police facility for drug testing
on Oct. 1, 2009.
Practitioners who intend to submit the non-disclosure and
attestation form (accessed at www.massbar.org/practicealerts)
should send completed forms in writing by mail or fax to:
Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security
One Ashburton Place, Room 2133
Boston, MA 02108
Attention: Michelle Goldman
Fax number: 617-727-4764