False guilty pleas in drug cases. Hundreds of them in Texas in the last 10 years. How could and why would so many innocent people plead guilty? The war on drugs, draconian jail sentences and aggressive prosecutors. Get threatened with a life destroying jail sentence if you plead not guilty or offered a shorter one on a plea of guilty. There’s a lesson in this American experience as we arm our prosecutors with mandatory minimum sentences, tough on crime laws and remove the power of Judges from the equation.
Lab Reports Show Hundreds “Convicted in Error” for Drug Offenses | Houston Press.