Saturday, October 29, 2016

Amy Albritton: Texas; Houston Drug Lab: Jailed in Houston; She blames a false positive drug test for ruining her life and is now suing the City of Houston, Harris County, a former district attorney and two police officers for $2.5 million."..."But field drug tests, like the one that sent Albritton to jail, aren't always accurate. In fact, the test manufacturers and the Department of Justice say suspect samples should always be tested again by scientists in a crime lab. Six months after her arrest, the Houston crime lab tested the sample found in Albritton's car. They determined it was not a controlled substance. There were no drugs in Albritton's car, but it would take years for her to find out authorities had proof she was innocent. It took three years for the Harris County District Attorney's office to send her a letter, saying she was convicted in error. The letter was sent to Albritton's old address, so she never received it. It took another year for her to find out she was cleared. "I was like, 'Thank you God,' because I knew I had not done that," Albritton said. Inger Chandler heads up the conviction integrity unit for the Harris County DA's office. While she can't comment specifically on Amy's case, she says the office is aware there was a problem. "The idea that we get it wrong and the system sometimes gets it wrong can rock you to the core," Chandler said. Chandler says she uncovered more than 300 cases where lab results proving someone's innocence simply sat in unread emails. In some instances, the crime lab was sending the results, but nobody at the district attorney's office was seeing them." 12 News Now.