Brockton: In wake of lab scandal, man freed early for drug trafficking conviction

A man convicted in March of 2011 of trafficking cocaine and posession of other drugs is headed back into society early, after spending the last roughly 18 months behind bars.

A 3 and 1/2 year sentence for Joshua P. Fernandes was supendend Tuesday in Brockton Superior Court.

Fernandez was convicted in March 2011 on a drug trafficking case out of Wareham and was sentenced to a mandatory 3 and 1/2 years behind bars. He was expected to be released on March 12, 2014.

Defense Attorney Kathi Lucey filed a motion in front of Judge Richard Chinn for a stay of Fernandes’ sentence after learning that samples of drugs seized in Fernandes’ case were handled by a chemist at the center of the scandal at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health State Drug lab in Jamaica Plain.

The prosecution assented to the defense motion.

Lucey says Chemist Annie Dookhan tested, sampled, and weighed drugs allegedly involved in the case.

Fernandes, who entered the courtroom in a gray Department of Correction jumpsuit, was led out of the courtroom, and within 15 minutes walked out of the courthouse.

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