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When Science Becomes A Puppet For Police


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by Rick Thompson/January 8, 2016

LANSING– Formal complaints have been filed in federal court against the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory by criminal defense attorneys who want an independent investigation into the lab’s practices and policies. A series of emails, revealed by FOIA request, illuminate the lab’s “abhorrent and illegal” compromise of scientific method to alter test results from marijuana products in a way that favors prosecutors- changes that were initiated by state drug task forces and the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.

“Our formal letter of complaint is intended to launch a serious and objective review of practices of the Crime Lab by the National Institute of Justice,” said Neil Rockind of Southfield, Michigan’s Rockind Law in a press release jointly issued with Michael Komorn of Southfield’s Komorn Law.

The letter was filed with the Director of the National Institute of Justice, Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences in Washington, D.C. It specifically cites “negligence and incompetence resulting in Crime Lab findings, integrity and reliability that are in serious doubt,” the press release revealed.

Attorney Michael Nichols of the Nichols Law Firm from East Lansing, Michigan, also filed a letter of complaint with the same agency on the same day, December 22.

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“Under Michigan law, all marijuana plant-based cannabinoids and the flowers, oils and edibles containing them are controlled as “marihuana” and the possession of these is a Schedule 1 misdemeanor,” Komorn wrote in a special to The Compassion Chronicles. “Only the possession of synthetic, laboratory manufactured cannabinoids is a Schedule 1 felony.”

Synthetic cannabinoids were made illegal in Michigan in 2013 by the state legislature in response to the rise of products like bath salts and Spice/K2, drugs that induced wild and sometimes fatal side effects in users. Those laboratory substances are not included in nor were they ever part of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA). Despite the illegality of the possession of plant-based edibles and oils under an Appellate Court interpretation of the MMMA, those medicines are regularly used by the 180,000 patients and caregivers registered in the medical program.

“What recently uncovered emails reveal is that the AG’s office, the prosecutor’s union, and the drug task forces pressured the lab to report marijuana edibles as a Schedule 1 synthetic felony THC,” Komorn said. “Mr. Ken Stecker of PAAM and the AG’s office prompted the change… pressure also came from the drug task forces so as to better establish probable cause to arrest marijuana patients and forfeit their assets.”

Asset forfeiture by police agencies in Michigan has become such a problem that the state legislature passed a sizable bill package of reforms, which were signed into law by the Governor in 2015. Komorn says 40% of the Crime Lab work is devoted to marijuana testing; marijuana cases turn up forfeiture dollars more frequently than methamphetamine, heroin or other drug cases.

The lab-related emails reveal there was broad opposition among lab scientists and administrators to the new reporting standard, and one employee quit his job at the lab in protest. In one email, Forensic Science Division Controlled Substance Unit Supervisor Bradley Choate said, “For the laboratory to contribute to this possible miscarriage of justice would be a huge black eye for the division and the department.”

Komorn filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the US Department of Justice against two of the Crime Lab’s Directors on December 11 on behalf of his client, Max Lorincz, alleging continued violations of rights in lab actions dating from 2013.

“There is nothing worse in a forensic scientist than ‘confirmation bias,’” said MSP Crime Lab Director Gregoire Michaud, during a presentation to a Criminal Advocacy Program, as quoted by Komorn. Michaud is one of the Crime Lab officials named in the civil rights complaint.

Rockind notes that the collusion between scientists and prosecutors “is antithetical to independent and objective forensic reporting.”

In a recent interview, Komorn said, “The idea that the police and the lab and the prosecutors are all intertwined and they are one side of the team versus the defendant is inherently a conflict.”

Nichols wrote in his letter: “The problem is the interference of the prosecuting attorneys association with the reporting of scientific results. It reflects a culture that the lab and its analysts are not scientists reporting forensic analyses dispassionately in court through testimony.”

Both the Komorn/Rockind and Nichols complaints cite other issues with the Crime Lab, including under-reporting of the uncertainty factor of blood alcohol testing.

Federal action became necessary when defense attorneys discovered that the entity registered with the National Institute of Justice to oversee allegations of negligence or misconduct at the State Police Crime Lab is the State Police themselves. As documented by Fox 17 in Lansing, the Internal Investigations unit at the MSP saw no problem with the activities at their sister agency.

Specifically, Fox 17 quotes the MSP representative as saying, “An internal policy change does not constitute misconduct or negligence.  Therefore, no investigation is underway… the MSP does not consider your reports on a debate among colleagues prior to an internal policy decision to rise to the level of an allegation of misconduct.”

Despite their denials to media about their concerns over the crime Lab story, internal emails from the MSP itself reveal a great deal of discussion on the issue and media coverage of it. Attorney Nichols used FOIA to reveal a 159-page email chain regarding the prosecutors/lab scandal and the fallout from it- initiated by the same MSP Public Relations representative that claimed they had no interest in the issue.

Rockind and Komorn are not filing a federal lawsuit at this time, per the press release. The National Institute of Justice has not yet responded to the formal complaint.

The Michigan lesson is one activists and attorneys from other states should note. Monitoring the procedures and relationships formed at and by each state’s forensic services is crucial to ensuring the integrity of the judicial process.

Komorn has been documenting the evolution of the case in a blog on his law firm’s website. A summary of these articles is included below.

 

komornlaw.com/medical-marijuana-lawyers-want-state-crime-lab-moved-out-of-michigan-state-police/

komornlaw.com/defense-attorneys-seek-fed-inquiry-of-msp-crime-labs/

komornlaw.com/federal-complaints-allege-marijuana-misreporting-by-state-police-crime-lab/

komornlaw.com/michigan-prosecutors-pressured-lab-on-medical-marijuana-results/

komornlaw.com/msp-defends-marijuana-crime-lab-reporting-after-fox-17-investigation/

komornlaw.com/attorney-alleges-authorities-bend-the-science-to-elevate-marijuana-cases/

komornlaw.com/drug-felonies-without-credible-proof-allegations-of-politicking-in-state-police-crime-labs/

komornlaw.com/crime_labs_falsified_marijuana_report/

komornlaw.com/emails-spell-out-alleged-scandal-in-state-crime-lab-testing-falsely-reporting-marijuana/

komornlaw.com/a-non-stop-political-game-former-msp-forensic-science-director-on-false-marijuana-reporting/

komornlaw.com/michigans-medical-marijuana-law-circumvented-by-crime-labs-thc-reports-attorney-charges/

komornlaw.com/medical-marijuana-patient-alleges-prosecutors-swayed-crime-lab-drug-tests/

komornlaw.com/allegations-msp-falsely-reporting-marijuana-targeting-card-carrying-patients/

 

http://thecompassionchronicles.com/2016/01/08/when-science-becomes-a-puppet-for-police/

 
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  • 6 months later...

Crime labs 'bend science' to strip medical marijuana rights, lawsuit says

 
 
 
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – State police crime labs intentionally misrepresent marijuana oil and edibles as having unknown origins, a tactic that can turn a misdemeanor possession charge into a felony and remove protections for Michigan's medical marijuana users, a federal lawsuit claims.Maxwell Lorincz of Spring Lake and three others from the east side of Michigan are seeking class-action status in a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Detroit against state police Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue and Inspector Scott Marier, interim director of the Forensic Science Division.

They allege the state police Forensic Division, in concert with the Prosecuting Attorney's Association of Michigan, or PAAM, established a policy to report marijuana-based edibles and oils as, at least potentially, having an unknown origin if no visible plant material is present.

The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, could then be declared a synthetic substance.

 

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Michigan's medical marijuana law circumvented by crime labs' THC reports, attorney charges

Attorney says prosecutors pressured state police crime lab officials

"At least one reason for the policy change was to better establish probable cause to arrest medical marijuana patients, obtain forfeiture of their assets, charge them with crimes they did not commit, and to allow felony charges against others for what is at most a misdemeanor," Farmington Hills attorney Michael Komorn said in the lawsuit.

State police would not comment with legal action pending, spokeswoman Shanon Banner said.

 

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'No conspiracy,' prosecutor says of medical marijuana patient's charge

GRAND HAVEN, MI -- The Ottawa County prosecutor says he is not out to overcharge Michigan Medical Marijuana Act cardholders who run afoul of state law. Prosecutor Ron Frantz offered the comments as he responded to criticism about a felony charge against a Spring Lake man who holds a medical marijuana card. Max Lorincz is charged with possession of...

The lawsuit also names Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and his forensic sciences lab commander as defendants for also allegedly designating oils and edibles as Schedule 1 THC, without any qualification as to its origin.

Undersheriff Michael McCabe, who reviewed the lawsuit that has yet to be served, said the sheriff's laboratory has received high marks and was recently re-accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board.

"Our testing procedures are above and beyond reproach," he told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive.

"As far as we're concerned, the lawsuit, in regards to Oakland County Sheriff's Office, it's garbage."

He said his agency has not talked to state police or the prosecutors' association – or the Oakland County prosecutor – about its procedures.

"We report the test results," he said. "Charging decisions are made by the prosecutor's office independently."

Lorincz, a medical-marijuana patient, is joined in the lawsuit by Oakland County residents Brandon Shoebe, a licensed medical marijuana caregiver, and Cantrell Carruthers, a licensed caregiver and patient, and Livingston County resident Jason Poe, a licensed patient.

The lawsuit focuses primarily on Lorincz's case. He was arrested last year after police found residue of oil extracted from marijuana while responding to a medical call at his northern Ottawa County home. Lorincz presented his medical-marijuana documentation, but the sample was sent to a crime lab in Grand Rapids for testing.

 

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Lorincz was charged with possession of marijuana. He insisted he had immunity. He says prosecutors threatened to charge him with a felony of possession of synthetic THC, and did just that when he refused to plead to the misdemeanor.

A Forensic Division scientist testified he could not tell if the THC sample came from a plant or was synthetic.

Prosecutors argued that the charge was appropriate because crime lab workers determined the origin of the THC sample was unknown because no plant material was present.

Ottawa County Circuit Judge Ed Post dismissed the case.

Prosecutor Ronald Frantz wrote then: "The court's decision turned on definitions and statutory language that we believed supported the charge as written. The District Court judge found our interpretation to be correct, Circuit Judge Post disagreed and ruled otherwise. ... We believe the increasing prevalence of extremely high potency marijuana-based and synthetic-based drugs is reason to update and clarify our statutes."

Maxwell, who lost custody of his young son for a time, did not see his troubles end.

"Maxwell and the approximately 200,000 other participants in the (medical marijuana program) face the prospect of being wrongly detained, searched, and prosecuted as a result of the Forensic Division's official reporting policy regarding marijuana," Komorn wrote.

"Indeed, the rights of numerous other Michigan citizens are endangered by this policy of reporting false felonies."

He said the state police crime lab's own results of the substance in Maxwell's case showed it to be plant-based.

Komorn said that state police documents obtained under Freedom of Information Act requests showed "a concerted action by Forensic Division, PAAM, and law enforcement to ignore the law and bend the science so as to report all marijuana oils and solids that do not contain visible plant matter as potentially Schedule 1 synthetic THC ... .

"In fact, the Forensic Division actually changed its lab manual to require this result from its scientists. This change was made in an attempt to strip medical marijuana patients of their rights and immunities, charge or threaten to charge citizens with greater crimes than they might have committed, obtain plea deals, and increase proceeds from drug forfeiture."

He said that a crime lab scientist wrote "that 'it is highly doubtful that any of these (medical marijuana) products we are seeing have THC that was synthesized."

Komorn said it makes no sense that anyone would try to synthesize THC given the ease of obtaining it from marijuana.

He said that Bradley Choate, a supervisor at the Lansing lab, objected to THC being labeled as potentially synthetic if plant material wasn't found. Choate wrote in an email that such a designation "would lead a prosecutor to the synthetic portion of the law. ...

"This could lead to the wrong charge of possession of synthetic THC and the ultimate wrongful conviction of an individual.

"For the laboratory to contribute to this possible miscarriage of justice would be a huge black eye for the division and the department."

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Ok so slightly unrelated question I have is what about the oil and resin in our pipes is that not protected under the mmma? Can my dirty pipe get me a felony charge?

 I used to collect mine and dry it out till it snapped for easy dosing in hard times.

in fact, after winterized it wasnt that bad.  Seems purveyors of oils need only distribute dirty pipes.

Thats not oil man, I just cleaned my pipes .

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anyone have the 117 email chain of them talking about the media reports? not talking about the 40 emails that were already released...

What is this? Have not seen.

 

 

Attorney Nichols used FOIA to reveal a 159-page email chain regarding the prosecutors/lab scandal and the fallout from it- initiated by the same MSP Public Relations representative that claimed they had no interest in the issue.

 

 

Despite Banner stating the MSP does not consider these concerns allegations of misconduct, a recent chain of MSP emails show the agency appears to be keeping a close eye on FOX 17 reports. In a recent 159-page email chain between MSP personnel and supervisors that Nichols obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, in an email dated Nov. 12 Banner emailed MSP supervisors and agency leaders a link to FOX 17’s Nov. 10 report and stated:

 

“FYI – Here is Dana Chicklas’ most recent story from Tuesday night on medical marijuana.”

 

http://fox17online.com/2015/12/22/federal-complaints-allege-marijuana-misreporting-by-state-police-crime-lab-%E2%80%8B/

 

those are the emails i want to read. the fallout emails.

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i read the 159 page email thread. it was basically the same as the other pdf release. just it had a bunch of duplicate emails and court opinions.

 

the only new things were one email posting the link to dana's story, some more foia mails talking about the nichols lawyer ( i think he foia'd any emails about himself, which is smart), and an email from grand rapids vice squad hoping that they could charge wax as a felony instead of reduced marijuana charge.

 

there might have been a new email from choate and another lab tech who were totally against the "unknown origin" stuff as well.

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