Commonwealth v. Nelson

In 2009, a jury convicted the defendant of various drug offenses. The drugs at issue were tested and analyzed at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute (Hinton lab or lab), but neither the misconduct by chemist Annie Dookhan nor the problems at that lab were discovered before trial. Once those issues came to light, the defendant moved for a new trial. A special magistrate 2 conducted an extensive evidentiary hearing and made detailed findings acknowledging the severity and the scope of Dookhan’s misconduct and the irregularities at the Hinton lab. Nonetheless, the special magistrate…