More Thoughts on Innocent People Pleading Guilty

12-4-15 National:

The concept of an innocent person pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit is initially incomprehensible and at odds with many Americans’ beliefs about our criminal justice system. That’s why the National Registry of Exonerations’ November report focusing on false guilty pleas is difficult to absorb. An earlier report this week on this blog quantified instances of false guilty pleas from the report; this one attempts to clarify this kind of miscarriage.

The Registry’s report is not about guilty people pleading to lesser charges. To reiterate and clarify, it documents instances in which people pleaded guilty even though they were neither guilty of the crime they were accused of, nor the crime they ultimately pleaded guilty to. They weren’t accessories, accomplices, or otherwise involved. They were innocent. In spite of pleading guilty, their innocence was eventually officially recognized, and they met the strict requirements for inclusion in the Exoneration Registry.

The short explanation for why innocent people plead guilty is that they believe they have no better option. (This fact alone invites the best minds in criminal justice to seek better policies to assure fairness and accuracy in justice.)

The Injustice of the Plea-Bargain System

12-4-15 National:

Fearing harsh sentences, far too many defendants are pleading guilty and forfeiting their right to trial.

The House Judiciary Committee introduced five bills this year in a bipartisan effort to reform America’s criminal-justice system. With incarceration rates in the U.S. five to 10 times higher than in Western Europe and other democracies, the bills aim to provide sensible reforms such as rewriting mandatory-sentencing statutes. Yet none directly addresses plea bargaining, a practice that induces too many defendants to plead guilty to avoid what has come to be known as the trial penalty.

Consider the case of Orville Lee Wollard. The 60-year-old Floridian is serving a 20-year prison sentence for using his legally owned weapon in his own home to fire a warning shot into the wall next to his daughter’s boyfriend. The warning shot came at the end of a day in 2008 during which the boyfriend allegedly attacked Mr. Wollard, assaulted his daughter, and refused to leave Mr. Wollard’s home. No one was injured.