Judges Rely on a Flawed $2 Drug Test That Puts Innocent People Behind Bars
The field drug tests are indeed a scam, but parts of this article don&#x27;t pass the smell test.<p>E.g.<p>&gt; Albritton was escorted to a dark wood-paneled courtroom. A guilty plea requires the defendant to make a series of statements that serve as a confession and to waive multiple constitutional rights. The judge, Vanessa Velasquez, walked her through the recitation, Albritton recalls, but never asked why she couldn’t stop crying long enough to speak in sentences. She had managed to say the one word that mattered: “guilty.”<p>This is called a &quot;plea colloquy.&quot; An example is here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vawd.uscourts.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;1966&#x2F;guiltypleacolloquy.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vawd.uscourts.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;1966&#x2F;guiltypleacolloquy.p...</a>. As you can see, it&#x27;s a conversation in which the judge must assure herself that the defendant understands the charges against her, understands the consequences, and that the prosecution has facts it is prepared to prove at trial (see question 31).<p>At least in federal courts, these are very detailed and take quite some time. I don&#x27;t know how things are done in Harris County, but an insufficient plea colloquy is grounds for having the guilty plea set aside later, so judges have strong incentives to ensure their colloquies are adequate.<p>So not only is it true that &quot;guilty&quot; is the &quot;only word that mattered,&quot; the article&#x27;s implication that the judge is only interested in hearing the word &quot;guilty&quot; is totally at odds with not only the judge&#x27;s incentives, but the prosecutor&#x27;s. What &quot;tough on crime&quot; prosecutor looking to rack up convictions would leave the door open for a conviction to be vacated just because the defendant couldn&#x27;t get through the colloquy?