Convicted Crack Dealer Gets New Trial, Court Rules Key Evidence Handled By Disgraced Chemist

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA – A man found guilty of selling crack outside of the Forest Hills T stop in 2005 was granted a new trial Wednesday after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled key evidence used to convict him was certified by a disgraced former chemist.

First reported by Universal Hub, a key part of the case against Daniel Francis was a substance police found in his car and in the mouth of a man who had just left his car. That evidence was certified as crack cocaine by Annie Dookhan, a former state drug lab chemist who pled guilty in 2013 to faking test results for thousands of criminal cases.

The court ruled that evidence presented by prosecutors during Francis' original trial could not be confirmed as crack cocaine independent of Dookhan's certification and statements Francis to police were attempts at cooperation in light of the evidence being certified.

Dookhan herself was sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison and paroled earlier this year; she will remain on probation for two years, her attorney told WBZ at the time.

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