Worse Prosecuting Through Chemistry

An ex-police chemist was arrested yesterday for stealing lots and lots of drugs from the lab. Whoops! The woman, Colleen Brubaker, was in charge of securing evidence in drug cases, and now lots and lots of cases have to be re-examined and possibly thrown out.

Oh, goodie.

And now lawyers for alleged drug dealers are using it to their advantage:

“There is no reason to believe that if Colleen Brubaker were a drug addict she would act differently than other drug addicts,” read a motion filed in [alleged coke dealer Terrence] Davis’ case.

The defender’s office asserts that police can no longer guarantee the “chain of custody” of the drug evidence and that Brubaker may have falsified information on the lab reports to cover up her addiction.

“The Prosecutor’s Office would somehow suggest that she was magically different than other addicts,” according to the court filing. “The chain of custody has been completely destroyed by the actions of Colleen Brubaker.”

Drugs! They’re magically delicious! I do kind of think she is magically different than other alleged addicts. I mean, what other ones get their drugs from the police?

A formula for chaos in courts [Inquirer]