Judge dismisses convictions tied to ex-drug lab chemist

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A judge has dismissed several drug cases connected to a former state chemist who authorities say was high almost every day she went to work at a Massachusetts drug lab for eight years.

Hampden County Superior Court Judge Richard Carey on Monday dismissed the convictions of seven defendants and allowed another to withdraw a guilty plea.

The cases are connected to evidence tested by Sonja Farak. Farak pleaded guilty in 2014 to stealing cocaine from the state crime lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Farak worked at the lab between 2005 and 2013.

Carey found that two former assistant attorneys general “tampered with the fair administration of justice” by deliberately concealing documents and making misrepresentations to a judge.

Attorney General Maura Healey’s office says it’s reviewing Carey’s decision.