The first thing, of course, is that for everything law enforcers get wrong, disciplinary action is understated, at best. In that sense— A Massachusetts prosecutor was disbarred Thursday after her failure to disclose exculpatory evidence in a drug theft case sowed major doubt in the criminal justice system. Anne Kaczmarek is the first former member of the Massachusetts attorney general's office to ever be disbarred. Her behavior may have impacted thousands of defendants who were convicted on drug charges. John Verner, a former state prosecutor who supervised Kaczmarek, was publicly reprimanded. Kris Foster, a more junior former prosecutor, was suspended for one year and one day. “The harm that resulted from the combined misconduct of Verner, Foster, and Kaczmarek cannot be overstated,” the Supreme Judicial court said in an opinion, continuing that “many criminal defendants were found guilty, admitted to sufficient facts, or pleaded guilty because of the AGO's failure to turn over exculpatory evidence.” “Thousands of defendants, who otherwise would have been eligible for relief at an earlier date, remained incarcerated during this time,” the justices said. (Reed↱) —the disbarment of Anne Kaczmarek is extraordinary. The other thing we ought to make certain we understand is that, in this debacle that has seen over twenty-four thousand convictions and more than sixteen thousand cases dismissed, and compared to the number of civil rights violations that represents, as well as however many obstruction of justice counts, what Anne Kaczmarek has been disbarred for is not the criminality of what has happened, but, rather, that she made law enforcers look bad. ____________________ Notes: Reed, Allie. "Prosecutor Snared in Massachusetts Drug Lab Case Disbarred". Bloomberg Law. 31 August 2023. News.BloombergLaw.com. 3 September 2023. https://bit.ly/3PnPrqr
What was the impact the drug offenders endured? Curious - and was justice skewed or were things manipulated for ????
Meanwhile, the wealthy Sackler family (owner of Purdue Pharma) that was responsible for the opioid addiction crisis 15+ years ago, were never found criminally responsible for all of the deaths they caused. They were the worst and most prominent drug dealers in history, and yet the US is still chasing the small town pot pusher on the street corner. It’s a
Of course justice was “skewed.” Most likely, she received something as a reward for hiding evidence that could help defendants receive fair trials. Usually that something is money. But, I couldn’t say for sure.
