and jennifer gonnerman is a staff writer for the "new yorker" magazine. we will link to her piece on the odiase case. when we come back, we will be talking about an astounding convictions21,000 in boston, massachusetts. but first, we're going to talk about what happened on the streets of berkeley, california. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in what may be the single largest dismissal of wrongful convictions in u.s. history, massachusetts prosecutors announced tuesday they're going to throw out 21,587 criminal drug cases. the cases were all prosecuted based on evidence or testimony supplied by a former state chemist who admitted to faking tests and identifying evidence as illegal narcotics without even testing the evidence. the chemist, annie dookhan, pleaded guilty in 2013 to tampering with evidence during her nine years working at a state crime lab in boston. during that time, thousands of people were convicted based on her false statements. tuesday's announcement is

jennifer gonnerman said a prosecutor can be formed between two missions. in the rules of ethics, they only have one mission, to do justice. they represent the people of the state of new york, the people of the state of new york win when the right man is convicted and win when the wrong man is acquitted. the defense bar for many years has sought to encourage prosecutors'offices to open integrity units like the ones in brooklyn and the bronx. to door sohankful -- i'i'm papal to the e new districtct attorney.. there is more than just a redacted police report. there's quite a bit more. this investigation very seriously and they were not afraid at all to come to the right result. future, or in the prosecutors offices across the -- more prosecutors offices across the country can approach wrongful convictions with the same seriousness. amy: issue the first female bronx thda? >> i believe so. i don't know that for a fact. amy: we will continue to follow the case. jonathan edelstein is an attorney focusing on criminal appeals and post-conviction remedies. of the la