Mass. forensic chemist lied on resume

• Tweet

BOSTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A chemist at a Massachusetts forensic laboratory lied on her resume and on the witness stand about her education, officials say.

Annie Dookhan left the Boston lab in March amid concerns that she mishandled evidence. She had worked at the lab since 2003 and had worked on thousands of cases.

Dookhan said when she applied for the job that she had a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The university said she asked for an application but never actually applied, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

She graduated from UMass Boston in 2001 and apparently had no education beyond that.

In 2010, she testified as an expert witness at a trial, telling the jury she had a graduate degree, the Boston Herald reported.

At least one convicted drug dealer has been freed because of problems with evidence handled by Dookhan. The state says the convictions of 1,141 people in state prisons be reversed, the Globe reported.

One lawyer, Michael Tumposky, is challenging a client's 2011 conviction on the grounds that Dookhan's conduct tainted work at the lab where she was not directly involved.

"It's one thing to falsify a resume to get a bartending job or something. It's another to testify in serious criminal cases about education you never undertook," Tumposky said of her apparent resume fabrication.