# Really? You didn't mean to hurt anyone by sending them to prison falsely? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 30, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298 "2012-09-30T07:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/1 "2012-09-30T07:51:20Z")
[Wow.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/29/annie-dookhan-chemist-drugs-lab-charges_n_1925335.html?ncid=webmail1) Drug lab worker says she didn’t want to hurt anyone and just wanted to be seen as a good worker. For fun, let’s show what this “good worker” has done: [ol][li]Falsely claimed, in court testimony of course, that she has a Master’s Degree from the University of Massacusetts. Not only does she not have such a degree, she has never taken any graduate courses at all with U-Mass.[/li][li]Tested 1/5 to 1/3 of a group of samples, then listed them _all_ as positive.[/li][li] **If a sample tested negative, she would taint the sample with cocaine and then list it as positive.** [/li][li]She was involved with testing samples for approximately 34,000 people.[/ol][/li] How on Earth can someone believe that providing faked drug evidence to the court won’t cause the defendant any harm? Your decision if this is RO. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/2 "2012-09-30T08:01:25Z")
I hope someone fucks with the evidence in her court case too. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/3 "2012-09-30T08:21:14Z")
I don’t get how adding cocaine to samples so that they test positive would make her look like a good employee. I can only conclude that she wast just doing it for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/4 "2012-09-30T08:24:03Z")
Has anyone ever seen her and \*\*Diamonds \*\*in the same room at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/5 "2012-09-30T08:26:21Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I don’t get how adding cocaine to samples so that they test positive would make her look like a good employee. I can only conclude that she wast just doing it for a laugh. Probably in the same way that writing many speeding tickets makes a cop a good one. “Look how many bad people I’m catching!” ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/6 "2012-09-30T08:29:23Z")
Please note I do not in anyway condone what this woman did. That said what exactly kinds of samples was she testing? What was being sent for analysis I mean? The reason I wonder is that if it was street drugs wrapped for sale I’ve been lead to believe that the penalty criminally for selling flour as cocaine is exactly the same as that for selling actual cocaine, so I suppose she may have thought she was just saving time. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/7 "2012-09-30T08:33:13Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I don’t get how adding cocaine to samples so that they test positive would make her look like a good employee. I can only conclude that she wast just doing it for a laugh. She was not running tests at all on most of her samples, so she needed to get a few samples that were definitely positive so that she LOOKED like she was doing her job. She has ruined people’s lives, and she’s made the whole system look crooked. The state is going to have to re-examine all of the cases where she was the one who did the tests. A lot of guilty people are going to be able to claim reasonable doubt, if she tested their evidence. And apparently she doesn’t get why people are all upset about this. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/8 "2012-09-30T08:35:03Z")
What. The. Fuck. I… but ugh. no words. The Cognitive Dissonance between job function and her actions is just fucking incredible. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/9 "2012-09-30T08:40:57Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > She was not running tests at all on most of her samples, so she needed to get a few samples that were definitely positive so that she LOOKED like she was doing her job. Makes sense. What a cunt. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/10 "2012-09-30T08:50:25Z")
@Grude You make a good point. It seems the samples she was testing were the primary drug samples of actual drugs. Not urine samples from drug users. In that case, it does make more sense to test a few, and than mark the rest as positive if they’re all from the same case. As you point out, fraudulently selling something as a drug that isn’t a drug is still a crime. That slippery slope isn’t nearly as steep than if she were testing urine or hair samples. Still she is totally fucked up though. I’m really curious where she got her bachelors training (if she did). it probably wouldn’t have helped… .but seriously, ethics class? [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/30/how-chemist-drug-lab-scandal-circumvented-safeguards/A29LZnAw1eW4hvjn4xX7rL/story.html](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/30/how-chemist-drug-lab-scandal-circumvented-safeguards/A29LZnAw1eW4hvjn4xX7rL/story.html) ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/11 "2012-09-30T09:15:22Z")
She should go to prison for a long time, but the whole system is fucked up if she could get away with this for this long. There should be redundancy so one person acting alone can’t falsify results. (Or at least not do it regularly and get away with it.) They should have two labs independently test samples, or they should have audits where they pass known samples through the system and make sure the test results on them are correct. It is grossly negligent for them not do that. The fact that they didn’t inquire into how she managed to test 3-10 times as many samples is negligent. Her supervisors should lose their jobs. It bothers me that everyone believes DNA evidence and so forth is airtight, when actually you’re relying in the word of the technician who does the test, and you’re relying on the cops not tampering with samples. Lying about results, slipping some drugs into a vial, or switching blood samples seems like it would be trivially easy, easier than faking almost any other type of evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/12 "2012-09-30T09:31:01Z")
I’m finding myself wondering how many of those samples she tested happened to be required samples from, say police officers or firefighters, for their employment. I know that for the US Armed Forces, if your sample tests positive, you will be processed for trial and discharge. Are there any other jurisdictions with the same procedure? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/13 "2012-09-30T09:40:08Z")
It occurs to me that a number of people are culpable in this case: [ol][li]The cretin who falsified the tests, of course.[/li][li]Her supervisors for not verifying her credentials in the first place.[/li][li]Her supervisors again for not monitoring her.[/li][li]Her supervisors yet again for simply accepting her astronomical workload completed as though that’s not a red flag.[/li][li]Her supervisors once more for not taking action when “some irregularities” were reported to them over the course of a couple of years.[/li][li]The courts for not verifying her credentials when certifying her as an expert witness.[/ol][/li] You hope her supervisors also lose their jobs? Heck, I hope her supervisors go to jail along with her! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/14 "2012-09-30T09:53:19Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > They should have two labs independently test samples, or they should have audits where they pass known samples through the system and make sure the test results on them are correct. It is grossly negligent for them not do that. Most major cities can’t even afford to test one time, when I lived in Houston a major scandal broke about their crime lab. > **[Houston Police Department | Crime laboratory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Police_Department#Crime_laboratory)** > > In November 2002, the CBS local TV station KHOU began broadcasting a multi-part investigation into the accuracy of the HPD Crime Lab's findings. Particularly of interest to the reporters were criminal cases that involved DNA analysis and serological (body fluid) testing. Night after night journalists David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao presented case after case in which the lab's work was dangerously sloppy or just plain wrong and may have been sending the innocent to prison while letting th... > [@](#): > > In November 2002, the CBS local TV station KHOU began broadcasting a multi-part investigation into the accuracy of the HPD Crime Lab’s findings. Particularly of interest to the reporters were criminal cases that involved DNA analysis and serological (body fluid) testing. Night after night journalists David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao presented case after case in which the labs work was dangerously sloppy or just plain wrong and may have been sending the innocent to prison while letting the guilty go free. As a result of those broadcasts, at the end of the week the Houston Police Department declared they would have a team of independent scientists audit the lab and its procedures. However, the audit’s findings were so troublesome that one month later,in mid- December, HPD closed the DNA section of the laboratory. Not only did the audit bolster KHOU’s report but also found that samples were contaminated and the lab’s files were very poorly maintained. The audit revealed that a section of the lab’s roof was leaking into sample-containment areas, lab technicians were seriously undereducated or unqualified for their jobs, samples had been incorrectly tagged, and samples had been contaminated through improper handling. Worse, many people had been convicted and sent to prison based upon the evidence contained in the crime lab. The New York Times asked the question, “Worst Crime Lab in the Country?” in a March 2003 article.[7] > > Beginning in early 2003, the HPD Crime Lab began cooperating with outside DNA testing facilities to review criminal cases involving cases or convictions associated with Crime Lab evidence. However this again came as a result of some prompting investigatory work done by the TV station KHOU. Not long after their first broadcasts, reporters David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao got an e-mail from a local mother. She was desperate. She told them that her son, Josiah Sutton, had been tried for rape in 1999 and found guilty based upon HPD Crime Lab testing. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. So KHOU began to take an intensive look at the Sutton case. Raziq and Werner analyzed the HPD lab’s DNA report with the help of DNA expert Bill Thompson of the University of California-Irvine. They found terrible and obvious mistakes in the report that the lab should have known about. When the reporters presented this new information to the local jurists who had helped convict Sutton, they were mortified. Not long after that broadcast, the HPD agreed to an immediate retest of the DNA evidence in the Sutton case. Those tests showed the DNA collected in the case did not belong to Sutton. He was released from prison in March 2003 and given a full pardon in 2004. > > As a result of the scandal, nine Crime Lab technicians were disciplined with suspensions and one analyst was terminated. However, that analyst was fully reinstated to her previous position in January 2004, less than one month after her December 2003 termination. Many HPD supervisors and Houston residents called for more stringent disciplinary actions against the Crime Lab employees. However, the city panel responsible for disciplining the lab technicians repeatedly resisted these arguments and instead reduced the employees’ punishments[citation needed]. Irma Rios was hired in 2003 as Lab Director, replacing Interim Lab Director Frank Fitzpatrick. > > In May 2005, the Houston Police Department announced that with much effort and coordination on their part, they had received national accreditation through the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD). The ASCLD stated that the lab had met or exceeded standards for accreditation in all areas except DNA.[8] Through independent research and testing, it was determined in January 2006 that of 1,100 samples reviewed, 40% of DNA samples and 23% of blood evidence samples had serious problems.[9] On June 11, 2007, the HPD crime lab reported its DNA section had gained full accreditation from ASCLD.[8] > > In the October 6, 2007 The Houston Chronicle published allegations of Employees cheating on an open-book proficiency test.[10] The scandals continue for one of the largest cities in the USA. [http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Never-ending-scandal-Will-we-ever-fix-HPD-s-2132873.php](http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Never-ending-scandal-Will-we-ever-fix-HPD-s-2132873.php) It is far from the only one, just recently Detroit was pitted here for having an enormous backlog of untested rape kits. Further research proved that is common around the country, they can’t even manage to get it tested once. And that is in the relatively wealthy USA, who knows the conditions elsewhere for crime labs. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/15 "2012-09-30T12:14:39Z")
RO? ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/16 "2012-09-30T12:18:40Z")
> [@saje](#): > > RO? Recreational Outrage ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/17 "2012-09-30T12:44:55Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/30/how-chemist-drug-lab-scandal-circumvented-safeguards/A29LZnAw1eW4hvjn4xX7rL/story.html](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/30/how-chemist-drug-lab-scandal-circumvented-safeguards/A29LZnAw1eW4hvjn4xX7rL/story.html) Cracks me up that the lab in that link is called Jamaica Plain. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/18 "2012-09-30T12:45:50Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Recreational Outrage Oh :smack: Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/19 "2012-09-30T13:12:43Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Cracks me up that the lab in that link is called Jamaica Plain. That’s the name of a neighborhood of Boston, but it does add an odd note to the story. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298/20 "2012-09-30T13:15:45Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Cracks me up that the lab in that link is called Jamaica Plain. That’s not the lab, it’s the [neighborhood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_Plain). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-you-didnt-mean-to-hurt-anyone-by-sending-them-to-prison-falsely/636298.md?page=2)