File Under "Better Late Than Never:"

From the 5/4/22 MA Lawyers Weekly:

"Stiffer penalties sought for two AAGs involved in failure to disclose Farak evidence

Harsher sanctions should be imposed on two former assistant attorneys general involved in the failure to disclose to criminal defense attorneys exculpatory evidence related to the misconduct of former Amherst state drug lab chemist Sonja Farak, an attorney for the Office of Bar Counsel argued in a virtual hearing before the Board of Bar Overseers on May 3.

While he commended special hearing officer Alan D. Rose's tireless efforts to oversee complicated proceedings that culminated with a 23-day hearing, Assistant Bar Counsel Joseph M. Makalusky argued that Rose's recommended penalties for both Anne K. Kaczmarek and John C. Verner were too lenient.

Rose recommended a two-year suspension from the practice of law for Kaczmarek, but Makalusky urged the BBO to recommend to the Supreme Judicial Court that she be disbarred.

As for Verner, Rose had recommended a public reprimand, but Makalusky said that a suspension would be more appropriate.

With respect to the third former AAG involved in the Farak matter, Kris C. Foster, Makalusky did not challenge Rose's recommendation of a suspension of a year and day but did argue that Rose had erred in finding that Foster had not violated Mass. R. Prof. C. 8.4(c) by drafting a letter that was “intentionally vague” and had the effect of misleading then-Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder."