South End Criminal Released Because of JP Drug Lab Scandal

Update: Friday, 1 p.m. - Pixley was arrested in Quincy on Friday. Read the details here. 

Original Story:

A convicted criminal in Boston is now a fugitive from the law, after he was released on lowered bail because of the recent scandal at the Jamaica Plain state drug lab, according to the Suffolk District Attorney's office. 

Authorities said that Marcus Pixley, 52, failed to appear in court on Thursday morning on outstanding charges that he dealt several bags of crack cocaine to an undercover police officer in the South End in February of last year. 

Pixley's bail had been initially set at $5,000, but it was lowered because evidence against him was tested by rogue chemist Annie Dookhan at the heart of a crisis at the Department of Public Health drug laboratory in Jamaica Plain.

Although that case is still under investigation, authorities say that Dookhan is suspected of tainting evidence and putting thousands of convictions in jeopardy. Dookhan was arrested on Friday on two counts of obstruction of justice and one charge of falsifying her academic record. Attorney General Martha Coakley said those charges are "just the beginning." She is suspected to have tampered with up to 34,000 cases. 

Pixley’s adult record, which dates back to 1977, also features convictions for rape, armed robbery, threats, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a public employee, larceny over $250, and breaking and entering at night with intent to commit a felony, the district attorney's office said. 

Pixley is under indictment for allegedly selling a plainclothes Boston Police officer two bags of crack cocaine during a February 2011 transaction in the South End. When additional officers moved in to arrest him, he allegedly struggled with them and swallowed a third bag of crack cocaine. A fourth bag, similar in size and packaging to the two allegedly sold to the officer, was recovered from the snow in the location of the struggle.

Because Pixley has three prior convictions for resisting arrest, he is charged as a habitual offender and faces a mandatory two-and-a-half-year sentence if convicted. He has been convicted of possessing, distributing, or manufacturing narcotics eight times as an adult and was indicted as a habitual offender on the drug charge as well.

When Pixley is apprehended, he will be transported to Suffolk Superior Court, where prosecutors will request that his bail be increased once again, said a spokesperson from the district attorney's office. 

See here for more coverage of the state drug lab scandal in JP.