Ep 128 - To plea or Not to Plea: the Origin and History of the Alford Plea

Haunted Hospitality

This week's episode is eerily like last week's, and we didn't plan it at all.

Today Zoey is going to hold your hand, whisper assuring words, and give you the treat of a bad joke every now and then as we navigate a complex legal decision together. Don't be afraid, Zoey's here to guide you. They won't let you get lost.

Okay, maybe we're exaggerating. But the Alford Plea is a concept where a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser crime while maintaining their innocence in effort to get a lighter sentence. The Alford plea was born when Henry Alford, a Black man in North Carolina during the Civil Rights Era, was accused of killing a man. While there wasn't any physical evidence stacked against him, there were witnesses who were ready to testify that he argued with the other man, walked towards that man's house with a gun, and confessed to a friend he did it.

Henry was convinced that he would be found guilty by the all white jury that would no doubtedly be placed before him, so his not-so-experienced Lawyer convinced him to plead guilty to avoid the death sentence. Henry agreed, but refused to admit guilt on the stand. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and used many in the appeal process to get the world to understand he wouldn't have plead guilty if he hadn't been afraid of the death sentence.

Henry's case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, and now the concept of pleading guilty while maintaining your innocence is known as an Alford Plea.

But first, Robin brings her Something Something and Zoey and Robin do a Buzzfeed Quiz to find out what horror movie genre they are.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/09/12/ep-128-to-plea-or-not-to-plea-the-origin-and-history-of-the-alford-plea/

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