NPR

'This Was a Colossal Screw-up': A Close Look At A Case Dismissed For Misconduct

Only a tiny fraction of federal prosecutions are thrown out because a judge finds evidence of government misconduct. Pharmacist Reddy Annappareddy's is one of them.
Getting a case dismissed because of government misconduct is rare, representing only a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of prosecutions the Justice Department pursues every year. By that measure, Reddy Annappareddy beat the odds.

Standing at the kitchen counter in his spotless town house near the Baltimore airport, Reddy Annappareddy heated up some water to make his lawyer a coffee and contemplated his hard fall from grace.

Annappareddy once presided over a pharmacy delivery business that stretched across six states — until one day in July 2013, when the FBI raided his operation and prompted him to attempt suicide. Alone in a hotel room in Las Vegas, as his employees frantically called him to report the bad news, Annappareddy downed some scotch and Benadryl pills, went to the bathtub and slashed both his wrists.

Hours later, he awoke, alive but weak, and headed for the hospital. Thus began a dark legal odyssey that would last more than three years. "It's a constant," Annappareddy said. "It's like a knife on my throat. You don't know what's tomorrow going to bring."

Annappareddy lost his ability

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