Criminal freed over Mass. lab scandal skips court

BOSTON (AP) — Career criminal Marcus Pixley, whose bail was reduced after allegations that a state police lab chemist mishandled thousands of drug samples, has become a fugitive.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge issued a warrant for his arrest Thursday after he failed to show up for a scheduled court hearing.

Chemist Annie Dookhan is charged with obstruction of justice and accused of faking test results, skipping protocols and mixing drug samples at a now-closed state lab.

On Friday, judges in Boston Municipal Court will hear about 19 other cases from defendants whose cases may be impacted by the lab scandal. Officials say they’ve identified more than 1,100 defendants serving time in county jails or state prisons based on samples tested by Dookhan. It is unclear how many samples might have been tainted.