On October 16, 2017, Daniel Bennett, Secretary of The Executive Office of Public Safety, issued findings based upon their investigation into the Office of Alcohol Testing (OAT), the agency that maintains the breath test devices in Massachusetts based upon allegations of malfeasance.
This investigation comes on the heels of allegations from Attorney Jay Milligan and others that members of the OAT willfully violated court orders to produce certain documents pursuant to the statewide litigation earlier in the year. Commonwealth v. Ananias et al.
Secretary Bennett in their review of OAT’s response to the discovery motions filed in the Ananias litigation revealed a system that was “haphazard at best.” Secretary Bennett concluded that OAT had a long standing unwritten policy not turn over exculpatory documents to anyone requesting them, including various district attorneys offices. Secretary Bennett concluded that OAT leadership made serious errors in judgment in its responses to court ordered discovery material which were “enabled by a longstanding and insular institutional culture that was reflexively guarded. . .”
The result of this decision will most likely have an affect on thousands of breath test operating under the influence cases that are presently pending and more importantly thousands of cases that have already been resolved since 2011.
