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Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

filmingcops.com

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Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#131

Post by sigstoat »

bayesianhorse wrote: post #72

Remarkable is the motivation of this chemist. No substantial money has changed hands, and she probably hasn't even received a promotion due to her higher conviction rates. She probably did it for the recognition or out of some perverse sense of justice. That's actually good news, because it means this case is probably very special.

there have been a number of other forensic scientists who've done pretty similar things for exactly the same motives.

a bunch have done similar things because they were just too lazy to do the testing.

others because they were incompetently trained.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#133

Post by maratd »

rayiner wrote: post #125
[deleted] wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

The racial and class disparities in sentencing is well established. Also, the fact that you say she's brown shows you don't understand how race impacts sentences. Its not a matter of being light or dark. Its a matter of being black or Hispanic and the economic and social status of blacks and Hispanics and how voters react to the kinds of crimes endemic in black and Hispanic communities. Why is the sentence so light?…

Nothing in your response excuses you throwing race into the mix.

Race has nothing to do with it. Economic standing does.

Yes, blacks and hispanics suffer disproportionately for the very reasons you cite, but they do not suffer because they are black or hispanic ... they do so because they are disproportionately poor.

Rather than focusing on the real issue, insane sentencing for crimes common in poor neighborhoods, you throw race into the mix, which adds nothing and simply pisses people off.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#134

Post by MichaelGG »

sigstoat wrote: post #130
DontGiveTwoFlux wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it wouldn't necessarily preclude tampering with the evidence. The article seemed to indicate that it wasn't just reports that were falsified. For instance, in the marijuana weight issue mentioned in the article, she could have slipped in some extra to put it over the weight limit before sending it off to another lab. Maybe cross checking would help, but systemic changes would probably be better.

fwiw, to be a DEA registered lab, and thus, have known marijuana (or other controlled substances) just hanging around, you've got to keep it locked up such that it requires two people to access it, and you've got to track it (very precisely) by weight. and the DEA can check your records any time. they have caught at least some people (who were "diverting" cocaine up their nose) with this.

I may be talking out of my ass here, but I was under the impression that for weighting, the transport or container will be considered. For things like LSD, this is really idiotic, as the transport (like paper) will weight many, many, times any prohibited substance.

If the same rules are used for all drugs, then adding weight might not require any prohibited substances. Also, a record of something going up in weight may be odd, but probably is less interesting than it going down in weight.

Not that it negates your point. She may have just written down false weights on the data they sent to court.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#135

Post by MichaelGG »

aeturnum wrote: post #103
goldenkey wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Results should be impartial. Bribing the lab tech is not what I would call a fair and balanced process.

That email, unless pleasantries or enthusiasm count as bribes, would not be considered a bribe. It's just good practice to be polite to those who can help you. Perhaps we should legislate that prosecutors should be dour towards everyone they encounter, less a pleasant experience bias someone? P.s. I realize that improper conduct by both parties is probable in this case, but the quoted email certainly does not cross t…

Why should prosecutors ever be in direct contact or even know the people running the actual tests? Except in cases where the lab must testify, in which case there should be separate controls (perhaps someone else runs the tests).

Allowing prosecutors to "do their job" and try to be polite or have any influence at all on what's supposed to be a purely factual system is completely and utterly wrong.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#136

Post by wpietri »

venomsnake wrote: post #38
wpietri wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. I was thinking about that too. In the same way that you can build a reliable system from unreliable components through clever system design, I think you can build an evil system from good but limited people. I think a lot about the housing bubble, the popping of which has had a terrible human cost. There may be nobody on earth who is willing to say, "Yes, I helped make that happen." But there are an awful…

Go check Robert Sheckley's Ticket to Tranai - it had the opposite - utopia created on the basis the human nature is flawed and some creative design. Fun read.

Awesome. I read that years ago but had forgotten it. Here's a link for those interested: http://www.e-reading.co.uk/chapter.php/149381/8/Sheckley_-_C...

It reminds me of "And Then There Were None": http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php

And "The Midas Plague": http://www.e-reading.co.uk/bookreader.php/1010251/Pohl_-_The...

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#137

Post by sigstoat »

MichaelGG wrote: post #134
sigstoat wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fwiw, to be a DEA registered lab, and thus, have known marijuana (or other controlled substances) just hanging around, you've got to keep it locked up such that it requires two people to access it, and you've got to track it (very precisely) by weight. and the DEA can check your records any time. they have caught at least some people (who were "diverting" cocaine up their nose) with this.

I may be talking out of my ass here, but I was under the impression that for weighting, the transport or container will be considered. For things like LSD, this is really idiotic, as the transport (like paper) will weight many, many, times any prohibited substance. If the same rules are used for all drugs, then adding weight might not require any prohibited substances. Also, a record of something going up in weight m…

there should be super careful weighing with, and without the packaging. i'm too lazy to ask my wife who'd know, but i believe that for tracking purposes they include the paper. for sentencing purposes they sample the paper in a couple of places, work out average concentration, and then math math back from there to whatever number is necessary.

going up in weight (by more than the uncertainty of the scales' measurement) is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting to anybody who actually cares, since that can't happen in the normal course of testing. certainly going down is what implies diversion, but it is also necessary for testing purposes.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#138

Post by Crito »

goldenkey wrote: post #92
DigitalSea wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The chemist could have easily spoken out. Protections would have been put into place to ensure that she and her family wouldn't have been harmed. Obviously blackmail and fear plays a part here, but evident by the fact she didn't seem to be upset about being caught nor deny anything, sounds like a classic case of a sociopath (or even part sociopath). How could you live with yourself knowing for ten years you've ruined…

I'd have to disagree. It's not easy to out a prosecutor, considering that they could be the one to tell their buddies (other prosecutors) to fix you good.

Doing what is right isn't always easy, but we should still demand it.

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#139

Post by Crito »

sigstoat wrote: post #130
DontGiveTwoFlux wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it wouldn't necessarily preclude tampering with the evidence. The article seemed to indicate that it wasn't just reports that were falsified. For instance, in the marijuana weight issue mentioned in the article, she could have slipped in some extra to put it over the weight limit before sending it off to another lab. Maybe cross checking would help, but systemic changes would probably be better.

fwiw, to be a DEA registered lab, and thus, have known marijuana (or other controlled substances) just hanging around, you've got to keep it locked up such that it requires two people to access it, and you've got to track it (very precisely) by weight. and the DEA can check your records any time. they have caught at least some people (who were "diverting" cocaine up their nose) with this.

What is to prevent the chemist from just cutting the coke after snorting some of it. Coke comes in 10% baking soda, goes out 15% baking soda, and who is in charge of figuring that out? The person that did it...

Re: Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases

#140

Post by marshray »

enraged_camel wrote: post #118
jjoonathan wrote: post #6

3-5 years?! THREE TO FIVE YEARS???!!! There are no words. Agents of the law need to be held more accountable for their actions than your average citizen, not less. This is disgusting.

I wonder how they plan on keeping her safe from the other inmates, some of whom will undoubtedly accuse her for their sentence.

"So... what are you in for?"
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