When The S*** Hits the Fan

Archives for March 3, 2016

7,827 Drug Cases Called into Question After Police Lab Tech Caught Faking Test Results

March 3, 2016 by carey wedler

Carey Wedler
March 3, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Passaic County, NJ — A lab technician for the New Jersey State Police’s Office of Forensic Science has ‘retired’ early after being caught falsely identifying a substance as marijuana without conducting the proper tests. On Monday, Deputy Public Defender Judy Fallon issued a memo to Public Defender Joseph Krakora explaining Kamalkant Shah’s falsified report:

“Laboratory Technician II Kamalkant Shah of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory (in Little Falls) has been found to have ‘dry labbed’ suspected CDS specimens. Basically, he was observed writing ‘test results’ for suspected marijuana that was never tested.”

According to NJ Advance Media, “Ellie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice of the Attorney general’s office, said in [a] Feb. 22 letter to county prosecutor’s offices that Shah ‘failed to appropriately conduct laboratory analyses in a drug case.’”

The letter, released from the Attorney General to the news outlet on Wednesday, disclosed that “Mr. Shah was observed in one case spending insufficient time analyzing a substance to determine if it was marijuana and recording an anticipated result without properly conducting the analysis.”

“The letter advised prosecutors to disclose this information to defense counsel,” NJ Advance Media reported.

The former technician’s indiscretion in that singular marijuana case has now called into question thousands of drug cases he conducted tests for, as the one in question was only the first observed instance of his dishonesty.

As Fallon noted, “Mr. Shah was employed with the lab from 2005 to 2015; obviously all his ‘results’ have been called into question.”

“In Passaic County alone, the universe of cases possibly implicated in this conduct is 2,100. The Prosecutor’s Office is still in the process of identifying them. Their plan is to submit for retesting specimens from open cases,” she said.

Shah’s fraudulent testing, overall, may have affected 7,827 drug cases on which he worked. Fallon also indicated the Little Falls crime lab provides testing for other law enforcement agencies across the state, not just the State Police.

Fallon wrote that the Prosecutor’s Office for Passaic County has not yet formulated a strategy to deal with the fallout of the falsified reports. She indicated the difficulty of identifying all the potential cases whose outcomes were influenced by the inaccurate, or downright absence, of testing:

“The larger, and unanswered, question is how this impacts already resolved cases, especially those where the specimens may have been destroyed.”

Assistant Public Defender Kevin Walker issued a statement saying there is not currently “a practical mechanism for identifying all the cases involving” Shah. According to Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Attorney General, State Police are reportedly working with prosecutors to comb over cases that may be affected by Shah’s false reports.

“The prosecuting attorneys are going to have to do that, by reviewing the records from the Little Falls lab and cross-referencing them with their files,“ he said. “We assume the prosecutors will do that promptly. Pending that review, we are going to keep all our options on the table, including filing motions to vacate convictions in appropriate cases.“

Aseltine, like other officials, highlighted that only one case was observed to be fraudulent, but that “in an abundance of caution, we have identified every case that Shah worked on since he began working in the North Regional Lab Drug Unit in 2005, and we have notified the county prosecutors, advising them to alert defense attorneys in those cases.”

NJ Advance Media reported that “several attorneys who deal with criminal matters said Wednesday that it wouldn’t likely affect the large number of defendants who pleaded guilty to drug possession.” This assessment apparently does not consider the deep flaws of plea bargains in the American justice system, which make up 90% of court outcomes in the United States, and often result from defendants’ fears they cannot fight the power of the courts — leading even the innocent to take plea bargains. The Drug War, specifically, has led to astronomically high rates of plea deals and prison time, all for individuals who have not committed violence against others.

In spite of the great burden his actions have placed on individuals and the justice system, at large, Shah has not been charged with any crimes. Aseltine said Shah was suspended without pay on January 12, and is “believed to have retired.” Shah enjoyed a salary of over $100,000 per year for the ten years he worked for the State Police.

Unfortunately, his is not an isolated incident. Inaccurate and falsified reporting has plagued the justice system and its related appendages for decades. For example, as the Washington Post reported last year:

“The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a former prosecutor, commented on the FBI’s scandal last year, but his sentiments — barring his allusion to executions, which are rare for drug cases — could be easily applied to the current debacle in New Jersey:

“These findings are appalling and chilling in their indictment of our criminal justice system, not only for potentially innocent defendants who have been wrongly imprisoned, and even executed, but for prosecutors who have relied on fabricated and false evidence despite their intentions to faithfully enforce the law.”


This article (7,827 Drug Cases Called into Question After Police Lab Tech Caught Faking Test Results) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Carey Wedler and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. Image credit: Amitchell125. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Ron Paul: “Absolutely No Meaningful Difference Between Hillary and Trump”

March 3, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
March 3, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) On Tuesday, Ron Paul agreed with what countless activists and independent journalists have been saying for months: Bernie Sanders is pretty much the same as Donald Trump.

Asked by CNN in an interview whether he would consider supporting Sanders’ presidential bid, Paul somewhat incredulously replied, “No. No, because he’s an authoritarian … he’s just a variant of Trump. Trump wants to be the boss.”

Paul went on, explaining that on issues of foreign policy where he’d collaborated with Sanders, the Vermont senator is “part of the military-industrial complex.”

“He was a big voter for militarism. He’s an authoritarian of a different color; but Trump is a super-authoritarian,” Paul said.

Paul’s criticism of the presidential contenders didn’t stop with Sanders and Trump.

“From a libertarian viewpoint, there is absolutely no meaningful difference between Hillary and Trump,” he emphatically remarked. “I mean, they both support [the] military-industrial complex, the federal reserve, deficits, entitlements, invasion of our privacy.”

Indeed, Paul summarized the absurdity of the 2016 election platforms, saying, “It’s super-nationalistic populism versus socialism. That is so remote from what we need to be doing — we need to be moving ourselves away from tyranny toward liberty.”

Asked if he would be endorsing any candidates, Paul explained there isn’t a single person left in the race who fits libertarian ideals of limiting government and protecting individual liberties.

“Some of the top candidates want to carpet bomb the world,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “No, a libertarian can’t endorse this authoritarian approach.”

 


This article (Ron Paul: “Absolutely No Meaningful Difference Between Hillary and Trump”) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Gage Skidmore. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Filed Under: bernie sanders

Here Is Why Trump Will Win: Americans “Want Somebody With Balls”

March 3, 2016 by mac slavo

donaldtrump-fear

You may not agree with everything this guy stands for, but you have to respect his candor and principles for blatantly calling out the system for what it is.

But this epic rant explains in 4 minutes why Trump is unstoppable, and Americans are done with the way things have been.

Common sense has been sacrificed for a whiny, liberal la-la-land where the State can arrest or silence anyone it pleases for hurting someone’s feelings or saying “taboo” words.

But Outlaw Morgan doesn’t give a F-@* about that. His viral and foul-mouthed rant is close to the sentiments of the people. They are fed up, and pissed off – and for that reason, Trump will win.

Disclaimer: This video is filled with foul language and politically incorrect observations. “So just cry about it!”

And the primary results are proving that. The establishment can pull out every empty suit in their line up, but people inside the GOP and across the country are sick of all of it.

Donald Trump is quite obviously not perfect, and has yet to earn any trust. His record has sometimes blown in the wind. But it doesn’t matter.

In 2016, he has done nothing but tell it like it is, and that is why is resonating with Americans everywhere, regardless of party or creed, and despite the outrageous and incendiary comments that Trump has made.

And that’s why wimps like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney and the other phonies can’t even buy their way into office anymore.

What do you think will happen next in 2016?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Filed Under: 2016 Tagged With: 2016, bernie, Conspiracy Fact and Theory, cruz, donald trump, election, Headline News, hillary, Hillary Clinton, rubio, super tuesday, trump

Hillary Hypocrisy: No Gun Rights for Americans, Billions in Arms for Dictators Overseas

March 3, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
March 3, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Perhaps Hillary Clinton needs a reminder that people have a difficult time placing trust in known hypocrites. Or perhaps unabashed hypocrisy simply doesn’t, for unknown reasons, strike her as an ethical deficiency.

“I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders’ own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times,” Clinton said during one Democratic debate in January, proceeding to proffer ostensible examples from his congressional voting record. “Let’s not forget what this is about — 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That’s 33,000 people a year.”

Clinton’s attempts to equate Sanders’ votes with moral turpitude are devoid of reason on a number of levels, most glaringly because her largest donors — and some of the largest contributors to the Clinton Foundation — are connected directly or indirectly with the defense industry and the gun lobby.

Indeed, Hillary Clinton tops the list of presidential hopefuls receiving defense lobbyist contributions — outpacing even the top Republican candidates. On March 21, according to The Intercept, a fundraising rally for Clinton’s campaign will be hosted in part by Jeff Forbes of the lobbying firm Forbes-Tate, who — until 2016, apparently — had lobbied for the National Rifle Association. Yes, the gun rights advocacy group. Guns. The very industry Hillary loves to vilify other candidates over their lack of staunch opposition toward.

No, this is not in any way intended to demonize gun rights — or, for that matter, characterize guns and gun ownership in any manner. This is about Clinton’s complete lack of consistency, penchant for outright hypocrisy, and — more to the point — blatant support for weapons manufacturers as long as their wares are employed by the military. Certainly not as constitutionally-legal protection for citizens of the country she seeks to rule.

This also pertains to Clinton’s willingness to say just about anything in order to further her apparent lust for wealth and power.

Consider an analysis by the International Business Times last May, of Clinton’s tenure at the State Department:

“Under Clinton’s leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation … That figure — derived from three full fiscal years of Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) — represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to those countries and approved by the State Department during the period of George W. Bush’s second term.

“The Clinton-led State Department also authorized $151 billion of separate Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, resulting in a 143 percent increase … [which] compares to an 80 percent increase in such sales to all countries over the same time period.”

U.S. ally and unabashed human rights abuser, Saudi Arabia, also doled out $10 million to the nebulous Clinton Foundation prior to Hillary’s appointment as Secretary of State.

Hillary Clinton desperately wants you to believe her narrative — though, admittedly, keeping up with its chameleon propensity for molding to her funders’ industries or interests can be onerous.

Clinton’s lambasting of Sanders for a milquetoast gun control stance casts aside the entire industry of violence from which her direct funders amass obscene wealth. She hypocritically champions restrictive policies on private citizen ownership of weapons, but cozies up to recent associates of the NRA. And she claims the need to curtail violence and needless deaths, but acts as a de facto peddler of weapons of war.


This article (Hillary Hypocrisy: No Gun Rights for Americans, Billions in Arms for Dictators Overseas) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Filed Under: Uncategorized

March 2016
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Feb   Apr »

Tags

9/11 2016 Activism Aftermath attack Business Civil Liberties clinton collapse Commodities Conspiracy Fact and Theory Corporatocracy Culture Emergency Preparedness fbi federal reserve food Food Safety Foreign Policy Freedom Geopolitics Government Accountability Government Corruption Headline News Health hillary Hillary Clinton Human Rights Justice Media Middle East News obama police Police State Politics prepping Science solutions survival Technology trump United Kingdom United States World

Categories

  • 2008 financial crisis
  • 2016
  • 2016 election
  • 2016 presidential election
  • 2016 republican primaries
  • 2nd Amendment
  • 4th amendment
  • 9/11
  • Al-Qaeda
  • amerigeddon
  • ammo
  • amnesty
  • barack obama
  • bernie sanders
  • Biotechnology
  • ISIS
  • Islam
  • islamic state
  • law
  • law enforcement
  • Uncategorized
  • wtshtf

Recent Posts

  • Ignorance is not bliss – it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion September 26, 2016
  • DM: “unrest continued after fatal shooting of black man” in Charlotte, NC September 22, 2016
  • Lots of talking and little listening September 17, 2016
  • Trump: I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm, right? Take their guns away, she doesn’t want guns. September 17, 2016
  • #Apple hit with $15 billion tax bill, #EU socks it to the #poor August 30, 2016
  • Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me August 19, 2016
  • Shocking Slap In The Face: Hillary Clinton JUST HIRED Wasserman Schultz As Campaign Head! July 25, 2016
  • Crowds Boo DNC Officials, As Party Revolts Against Hillary: “They’re Angry, They’re Upset” July 25, 2016
  • Report: Mexico Wants To Build Trump’s Wall To Stop Illegal Immigration July 25, 2016
  • Salesforce.com says platform can send spam email advertising July 22, 2016
  • #Anonymous Declares War on Mainstream Media: Attacks Fox, #CNN, NBC and More June 3, 2016
  • Mourn the Death of the #UnitedStates: “Soon We Will Be Ripe For Internal #Collapse… Or A Large War” June 1, 2016
  • “There Is Something Changing In The Market” – #CEO Hints Of Massive Shortages As Tech Manufacturers Are Now Going Direct To Mining Companies In Search of #Silver June 1, 2016
  • Elite #SpecialForces Insider Warns Of Serious Civil #Unrest This Summer: “Everything Is Right For Things To Go Very Wrong” May 31, 2016
  • Shock Report: Secret Law Will Give #FBI Full Access To Your #Email Without A Warrant: “Massive Expansion of Government Surveillance Authority” May 31, 2016

Copyright © 2025 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...