Attorneys Shah and Quinn-Judge file Amicus Brief on Behalf of the Cato Institute and The Center on Administration of Criminal Law in CPCS v. Attorney General

ZDB’s Monica Shah and Emma Quinn-Judge filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Cato Institute and The Center on Administration of Criminal Law in CPCS v. Attorney General, a case involving egregious prosecutorial misconduct arising from chemist Sonja Farak’s mishandling of thousands of drug samples at the Amherst Drug Laboratory.  The brief supports the Petitioners’ request that the SJC remedy the systemic and widespread injustice arising from prosecutors’ failure to disclose exculpatory evidence, fraudulent statements to the courts, and failure to identify and notify thousands of wrongly convicted individuals by dismissing the convictions of all defendants whose samples were processed by the lab during Farak’s time and issuing monetary sanctions against the Attorney General’s Office and District Attorney’s Offices.  The brief also argues for the prevention of future prosecutorial misconduct against other defendants by ensuring that judges proactively hold prosecutors accountable through clearly defined Brady standing orders, strong sanctions for noncompliance, and mandatory reporting to disciplinary boards.  Read more about the case and download the full amicus brief here: https://www.cato.org/publications/legal-briefs/committee-public-counsel-services-v-attorney-general-massachusetts-mass