The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Massachusetts said Thursday an estimated 11,162 convictions in 7,690 cases tainted by former state drug lab chemist Sonja Farak were ordered for dismissal by Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Frank Gaziano.

The dismissals were the result of litigation filed by the two organizations.

Graziano filed a Declaratory Judgment with the court stating in part, "the respondents -- the Attorney General and the offices of the Massachusetts District Attorneys -- have agreed to vacate certain convictions obtained using drug certificates signed by Sonja Farak."

Farak was arrested in 2013 for stealing samples from the Amherst state drug lab to feed her own addiction. She pleaded guilty in 2014 to charges of drug possession and evidence tampering and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

"For nearly nine years, Farak used drugs that she stole from or manufactured in the Amherst Lab, causing thousands of people to be wrongfully convicted of drug crimes based on unreliable evidence," a press release from CPCS and the ACLU said. "Last fall, CPCS and the ACLU of Massachusetts, together with Fick & Marx LLP, filed a petition and called for dismissal of every case tainted by Farak and subsequent years of prosecutorial misconduct. Last month, they called for the dismissals of all drug convictions arising from the Amherst Lab during Farak's tenure."

Farak is among 18 defendants named in a $5.7 million complaint by Rolando Penate, who served more than five years in prison for drug crimes.

"Today marks another victory for justice led by CPCS and the ACLU of Massachusetts, nearly one year after the single largest dismissal of wrongful convictions in the nation's history. In April 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its final order to dismiss nearly 22,000 drug cases tainted by former state chemist Annie Dookhan," the CPCS/ACLU release said.

The cases dismissed today represent cases previously referred to as the ones that district attorneys agreed to dismiss. The declaratory judgement represents the actual dismissal.

Matt Segal, legal director of the ACLU in Massachusetts, said the cases dismissed today include:

From Hampden County: 6,110 charges in 4,368 cases.

From Franklin and Hampshire: 1,982 charges in 1,495 cases,

From Berkshire County: 889 charges in 552 cases.

There were also cases from other counties in the state, where for varied reasons samples were sent to the Amherst lab for testing.

Rebecca Jacobstein, staff attorney of CPCS, said the organizations have filed briefs to have the court vacate all cases involving drug samples tested at the Massachusetts crime lab in Amherst during Farak's eight-year tenure there.

Segal said, "This is a wonderful day for thousands of people across the Commonwealth who have been harmed by wrongful convictions."

Read the text of the Graziano's judgment below:

2018 4 5 Declaratory Judgment by The Republican/MassLive.com on Scribd