Press Release  SJC says dismiss more Amherst Drug Lab charges, Caccaviello will comply

PITTSFIELD — Berkshire District Attorney Paul J. Caccaviello says his Office will comply with a Supreme Judicial Court order that dismisses more drug cases because of misconduct at the Amherst Drug Laboratory. 

The SJC ruled today that additional drug convictions must be dismissed because of misconduct by former chemist Sonja Farak.  Caccaviello says his staff will comply with the ruling which requires district attorney’s offices throughout the Commonwealth to identify cases in which chemists other than Farak at the Amherst Laboratory analyzed drug evidence between 2009 and 2013. 

The Court found that Farak not only contaminated methamphetamine laboratory standards, but also tampered with drug evidence submitted by police departments prior to being tested by other chemists. 

The SJC ruled that the Commonwealth must dismiss all methamphetamine convictions from the Amherst lab when Farak worked there and all drug convictions resulting from drugs tested at the Amherst Laboratory between January 1, 2009 and January 18, 2013. 

The Court recommended that its advisory committee of the Rules of Criminal Procedure propose amendments to the rules governing the sharing of information between prosecutors and defense attorneys to include a list of specific items that must be disclosed by prosecutors.  

The SJC commended the district attorney’s offices for properly and promptly sharing evidence they received from the Attorney General’s Office with defendants whose convictions were affected by Farak’s misconduct.  The Court also praised the district attorney’s offices for engaging in a lengthy and labor-intensive effort to identify and notify individuals whose cases were affected by this misconduct.

The state’s district attorney’s offices had previously voluntarily dismissed approximately 8,000 cases including 815 from Berkshire County. 

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