More cases potentially tainted by high lab worker tossed out

BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts has ordered the dismissal of more drug cases potentially tainted by a former chemist authorities say was high almost every day for the eight years she worked at a state drug lab.

The Supreme Judicial Court said Thursday the state must dismiss the cases of all people whose convictions were based on evidence at the Amherst lab between Jan. 1, 2009, and when the lab closed on Jan. 18, 2013.

Thousands of cases that relied on analyses performed by Sonja Farak have already been dismissed.

The new order applies to cases based on evidence tested by other chemists while Farak worked at the lab. It wasn’t immediately clear how many additional cases would be dismissed.

Farak pleaded guilty in 2014 to stealing cocaine from the lab.