Free Republic

Massachusetts is reeling from a massive scandal in its state crime lab. Details are still emerging about what officials call a "rogue chemist" who may have mishandled evidence in as many as 40,000 cases over 10 years. It could mean the unraveling of countless convictions. Even lawyers prone to hyperbole may not be overstating it when they call the scandal a catastrophic failure and unmitigated disaster. "Any person who's been convicted of a drug crime in the last several years whose drugs were tested at the lab was very potentially a victim of a very substantial miscarriage of justice," says...

FEBRUARY 7, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OPERATION LUCKY CHARM MEXICAN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO METH CONSPIRACY SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Todd P. Graves, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Mexican national residing in Webb City, Mo., has pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Jasper County, Mo. This conviction is the result of Operation Lucky Charm, a joint investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies into a large quantity of methamphetamine being distributed in southwest Missouri. Polo Hinojosa-Garcia, 25, a citizen of Mexico residing in...