Pubdate: Sat, 06 Oct 2012
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.

BAD GUYS GONE WITH WIND

As expected the drug lab scandal in this state is moving from 
embarrassing and befuddling to, frankly, terrifying.

Marcus Pixley - an alleged drug-dealer with a long rap sheet 
including a past conviction for rape - is back in custody today, 
we're relieved to say, after failing to show up in court earlier this 
week. Pixley had been released after a judge lowered his bail amid 
concerns by his lawyer about possible tainted evidence in his case. 
The drugs that Pixley is charged with selling to an undercover cop in 
2011 had been tested by now-fired chemist Annie Dookhan.

Pixley had been held for 11 months on $5,000 bail on the drug charges 
(he also faces a charge of being a habitual offender). But at the 
request of his lawyer, a judge last month lowered his bail to $1,000 
and he was sprung. He failed to show up for a pre-trial hearing this 
week but was arrested and back in court yesterday.

Now, it goes almost without saying that if there is even a hint of 
evidence-tampering involving a defendant who is currently held behind 
bars that case deserves close scrutiny, and there may indeed be cause 
to revisit the conditions of pre-trial custody or even a convicted 
criminal's sentence. Justice must be served, even if some really bad 
guys are likely to get away with their crimes.

And that is what is now beginning to happen as the trial court has 
been forced to set up special sessions just to handle the socalled 
"Dookhan defendants" - some 1,100 of them currently jailed. There 
will be an enormous investment of critical state resources - cops, 
prosecutors and judges in one really expensive do-over. Yesterday the 
confusion was on display in Boston Municipal Court during a special 
session held to consider 19 cases, some of which, Suffolk DA Dan 
Conley said, weren't actually connected to Dookhan.

But as this process moves forward, Marcus Pixley and others like him 
ought to serve a reminder that, just as there should never be a rush 
to judgment of a defendant's guilt, there should be no rush to fling 
open the jailhouse doors, either.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom