Charles Dickens started Tale of Two Cities with “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. . .” Well if you are in San Francisco and you’re charged with a drug crime it may be the best of times and if you work for the police crime lab it may be the worst of times.

Last December the Police Department was notified that one of its supervising chemists, Deborah Madden was stealing cocaine from the laboratory for her own use. But the District Attorney office was not notified until February. By then other allegations had come up regarding the crime lab including problems involving chain of custody issues and contamination of the tested substances. Now we learn that Madden was not only using cocaine but she may also have taken oxycontin from the laboratory,

Furthermore it has been learned that Madden was convicted of domestic violence charges in nearby San Mateo County. The failure to notify defense counsel of the conviction may be a Brady issue. In Brady v. Maryland the Supreme Court ruled that a prosecutor and the police department must turn over evidence that may be helpful to a defendant to his/her attorney. This would include evidence that a prosecutorial witness committed a crime of moral turpitude. But evidence of Madden’s charges and conviction were only partially turned over earlier this month to defense counsel.

The crime lab was closed last month and drugs have been sent out to other communities for testing.

The number of cases affected is unclear. But the District Attorney’s most recent count is that 500 cases have been dismissed and another 1900 will be dismissed. This only includes open cases. Other cases, where convictions have been obtained may be reversed on writs of habeas corpus.