Several news outlets have written articles about Attorney Post’s work, along with ACLU technologist Paola Villareal, in identifying defendants who were convicted of drug offenses without the Commonwealth ever notifying them that the substances in their cases tested negative for drugs. Articles in the Boston Globe, CommonWealth Magazine, and MassLive.com detailed efforts to vindicate 64 individuals wrongly convicted of 91 drug offenses. We are pleased to report that, in the wake of these revelations, several additional District Attorney’s offices have reached out to indicate their interest in helping correct the 278 additional wrongful convictions outside of Suffolk County that Attorney Post helped identify.
Attorney Post in the Boston Globe on Sonja Farak / Hinton Scandal
Attorney Christopher Post was quoted in today's Boston Globe regarding the Hinton Drug Lab scandal. The Inspector General essentially ignored or underplayed the misconduct of Sonja Farak while she was at Hinton, but she appears to have been worse than Annie Dookhan.
“Attorney Christoper Post ... said the number of drugs she analyzed should have been a red flag for the inspector general...she analyzed more drugs than anyone in the history of the lab 'It’s hard to see how they couldn’t have spotted it.'”
Defendant Never Told of Negative Drug Testing
Atty. Christopher Post also won a new trial and then dismissal for a defendant who was never told that the “drugs” he was convicted of possessing tested negative at the Hinton lab. Police had stopped him, tackled him, and claimed they found crack cocaine. He was subsequently charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine in a school zone. He pleaded guilty quickly to avoid the mandatory minimum school zone charge. While he was serving his sentence, testing at Hinton proved the substance was not drugs, just as he had claimed, but no one ever told him and continued serving his sentence. After the Dookhan and Farak scandals, Atty. Post helped identify similarly situated individuals while at the C.P.C.S. Drug Lab Crisis Litigation Unit. It appears there may be more than 300 similarly situated defendants.