Suffolk DA kicks off effort to drop tens of thousands of convictions tied to tainted state drug lab
By Maggie Mulvihill Globe correspondent,Updated April 29, 2021, 6:24 p.m.
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The state shut down the Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain in 2012.The Boston Globe/Boston Globe
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins launched a historic effort Thursday to overturn charges in tens of thousands of criminal cases built on drug evidence she says were tainted by rampant mismanagement and misconduct at a now-shuttered state drug lab.
Defense attorneys, academics, and staffers from across the criminal justice system gathered in a virtual meeting for Rollinsâs inaugural âHinton Lab Initiativeâ summit, embarking on a massive, yearlong attempt to remedy convictions tied to the largest drug lab scandal in US history.
SJC orders new trial for man convicted in hammer attack on Westfield couple
By Travis Andersen Globe Staff,Updated April 20, 2021, 2:34 p.m.
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The stateâs highest court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for a Black man convicted in 2018 of attacking a couple with a hammer in Westfield, ruling the trial judge improperly barred the defense from calling an expert witness to describe a possible white supremacist tattoo on one of the victims, which could have bolstered the defendantâs claim that he acted to protect himself during the encounter.
The 40-page ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court overturned the conviction of Adrian B. Hinds, 30, whoâs serving a 10- to 12-year sentence for the 2016 attack. A jury found him guilty in 2018 on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, records show. The jury also cleared him of several related charges, according to legal filings.
SJC rejects bid for new trial by David Chalue, convicted in 2011 Berkshire County ‘Hells Angels’ triple murder
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
Posted Feb 23, 2021
The state Supreme Judicial Court has rejected a petition for a new trial by David Chalue, convicted of three counts of 1st-degree murder in the 2011 homicide of three Pittsfield men (Michael S. Gordon/The Republican file photo)
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BOSTON The state’s highest court on Tuesday rejected a bid for a new trial by David Chalue, one of the three defendants convicted for a 2011 Berkshire County triple murder where three Pittsfield men were abducted, killed and dismembered, and then buried in the woods in Becket.