What Impact Will the JP Drug Lab Scandal Have on Middlesex County?

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian addressed the Bedford Council on Aging on Oct. 18, and was asked what the impact of the Jamaica Plain drug lab scandal would be on Middlesex County.

Koutoujian said while police officials are dealing with a number of samples that were sent to the Jamaica Plain lab, Middlesex County largely sent drug samples to another facility. 

"It's difficult to describe how bad this could be," Koutoujian said. "It's not affecting Middesex County too much, although we're finding more of our samples did go to this one lab than we thought, but Middlesex would send our stuff to a different lab." 

Moving past the criminal implications of such large scale tampering with evidence in hundreds of drug cases, the implications for civil forfeitures will be far reaching, Koutoujian said. 

"Aside from the fact that you have people that might have been sent improperly to jail or had to plead guilty because of these tests, you've got a whole huge impact on the civil forfeiture side that the state could be on the hook for in a significant fashion," Koutoujian said.

While the Bedford Police Department is conducting a review of around 100 cases from 2003 to 2009 that could have been affected by the scandal, Koutoujian said not every defendant will be lucky enough to have police departments do the leg work for them.

"Bedford is checking out their cases," Koutoujian said. "Some places, it's up to the defendant or the defendant's attorney to bring it forward."