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Man pleads guilty to trafficking cocaine and is sentenced to 15 years in prison. Tests come back showing substance in question was actually powdered milk.
Police stopped the young man, Cody Gregg, 26 while he was riding his bike earlier this summer. Reports say that police found a plastic baggy full of "a large amount of white powder substance" in a coffee can. Gregg, who had previously faced drug charges, told officers the powder was in fact powdered milk from the food bank he had just came from.
Based on police reports, officers at the scene tested the white powder and claim it came up positive for cocaine. At that time they arrested the young man and he was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on Aug. 22 and held on $50,000 bond.
Now, nearly 2 months after the initial arrest, lab results return showing that the substance in question WAS IN FACT the powdered milk from the food bank that Gregg had claimed.
On Thursday, Judge Mark McCormick released the young man and dropped the charges saying it was "[in the] best interest of justice after negative lab reports," according to case records.
When questioned by reporters as to why he had plead guilty to a crime he knew he didn't commit, He said it was so he could get out of the Oklahoma County Jail after spending weeks there. Conditions in county jails are often less favorable than that of prisons in America.
The Oklahoma County Jail has had problems, including leaking walls, plumbing issues and mold, according to The Oklahoman. The newspaper reports that an inmate has died there about every six weeks, on average. At least six inmates have died there this year.
Jason Lollman, a public defender in Tulsa, said that it’s not uncommon to see clients pleading guilty even if they're not in order to get out of county jail because otherwise they're "forced to sit in and wait" before and during their trial.
Lollman went on to say, "The cash bail system... is a problem, If they can’t afford an attorney, they're not going to be able to post bond to get out."
There have often been "times where I’ve actively talked a client out of taking a plea bargain," Lollman said. But "if the client wants to take that plea, I really can’t stand in the way of it."
"Sometimes it’s like we, the attorneys, have more stamina than the clients do," he added. "But that’s because we’re on the outside and they're in jail."