Tonight, we bring you a true story
from the front lines of the drug war,
and a lesson learned the hard way--
if you can't do the time, don't leave the house.
ROSS'S FATHER: They were labeling it
as the biggest drug bust in Houston
and that they had gotten the kingpin.
I'm Ross, I'm 24, I'm from Houston, Texas,
born and raised--
H-Town baby, that's how we do it.
It was just a beautiful day outside.
We were driving around in my '06 Acura TL silver bullet model.
I was at a four-way intersection going to take a right turn
and I guess I forgot my blinker.
And I see the cop hauling ass towards me.
Comes up over to, like, the door, you know, leaning on it--
Mr. Cool Guy.
While they're searching my vehicle,
Nico and I were chilling in the back of the cop car.
And he just comes back from the car
and he's got this big old sock and he asks me, what's
in the sock, and I say, your guess is
as good as as mine, you know.
You're the police, you know, figure it out for me.
And he came in there with two field tests
and that's when they tested it twice.
Sure enough, he came back and he was
like, you're going to be arrested for having
252 grams of methamphetamine.
And I said, bullshit.
When Nico's parents called me and said
that Ross was arrested for meth, I already
was thinking, that's the sock.
It has to be.
It's a life hack--
I read about it online, about putting kitty litter in a sock
and putting it in the car.
It would act as a dehumidifier and a deodorizer.
So he had no idea it was in there in the first place.
CORRESPONDENT: Does kitty litter look like meth?
Well, I haven't seen meth since college
more than 30 years ago.
From what I remember of meth, it's oily
and it smells to high heaven.
That makes me think that the police officers themselves--
that certified narcotics officer--
is a moron.
[CAT MEOWING]
Field test kits are not reliable to confirm
the presence of illegal substances,
but they also can give positive reactions
to common household products--
common household items like nasal spray, cleaning supplies,
pain reliever, BC powder, blood pressure medicine,
anti-depressants, Sudafed, Benadryl,
roach bait, flour, baking soda, antihistamines,
and dehumidifiers.
CORRESPONDENT: All right, OK, great.
Um, aspirin, Dr. Bronner's soap, pasta sauce, chocolate,
sage, acne medications, tortilla dough, cheese, deodorant,
Krispy Kreme donut glaze, billiard chalk, motor oil,
breath mints, soy milk, anything with sugar,
loose-leaf tea, even just exposing the bag to air.
Drug field test kits are used essentially universally
and they're widely accepted in courtrooms.
In three years, my unit identified over 100 cases
where individuals had pled guilty to drug possession
and were innocent and that's just in Harris County alone.
My name is Barry Demings and I was wrongly
convicted of drug possession.
I was driving in Northwest Houston to pick up a coworker.
You know, I had an Explorer.
I had my turn signal on and before I
could get in the left lane, I was surrounded by police cars.
The next thing I know, you know, they're searching my vehicle
and I had a gun magazine in the back
and somebody hollered "Gun!"
CORRESPONDENT: Wait, a mag-- like
a magazine that holds bullets?
Right, it was just the mag-- no, it was a magazine that you
read, Guns and Ammo magazine.
And I was thrown to the ground, handcuffed.
They had their knee on my neck and stuff
and I was telling them, hey, I don't possess a weapon.
All of a sudden, this guy came up to say, uh, I-- ha,
I got something.
A minute amount in the corner of a baggie is what he showed me.
They tested it and they said it came back cocaine.
If you're at a traffic stop and an officer is scraping
crumbs off of a floorboard, there's
no telling what could also be present,
but things work out differently based
on kind of your lot in life.
ROSS: My mugshot was pretty cool.
It was just a quick little smirk.
Mugshot of the year.
What else can you say?
Whenever you hear that your son is in jail,
is that you've got to call a lawyer.
Luckily, one of my oldest friends
is one of Houston's best defense attorneys, George Reul.
GEORGE REUL: I'm a little less stuffy than a lot of lawyers.
I'm a little more relaxed than a lot of lawyers.
[SINGING] It was only cat litter, literally.
George was so cool, probably like the coolest lawyer
on the block.
George introduced me to friends of his
who run a bail bonds company.
Howdy.
They got it down to $4,000, which was pretty sweet.
[SINGING] Then the case was dismissed with the use
of a more definitive test.
I got a court-appointed lawyer because I
didn't have the money to pay.
I tried To explain what happened,
but I wasn't given a chance, you know.
The prosecutor wanted 20 years or more.
The judge told me if y'all want to play with me,
when you get out of jail, they have flying cars.
They may consider a plea bargain offer
to get out of jail faster than waiting for the real drug tests
to come back.
I took the lesser of the two evils to have to say "I did it"
and you didn't do it.
It was just a nightmare, to be honest with you.
You know, I'm sitting here now thinking about it.
When I got out, I found out that they were going
to have an auction that Wednesday and they
auctioned my vehicle off.
When I came out, it was kind of going my way.
I got my car back, I got to go home and get
some Whataburger or something.
I was so hungry.
Because of my drug conviction, I--
I couldn't receive public assistance.
I couldn't get food stamps.
So in Barry's case, almost a year after he was released
from prison, the lab report came back and it was negative,
but it took another five years before Barry was exonerated.
It's not that I'm unlucky.
This is, uh, part of a black man's life.
I am lucky in this situation.
I mean, other people in there have been there for months
and they couldn't afford to get out-- their bond is too high.
It's become like an epidemic.
It's bullshit.
INGER CHANDLER: Jeff Sessions and the administration
dismantled the National Forensic Science Commission--
the very commission that would address issues like the ones
we've been talking about today.
Today, most cities in America still
accept plea bargains on cases where a real lab
result hasn't come back in.
Well, my pops and I, we want to eventually take this kitty
litter sock and we want to mass produce it
to something that can help everyone out
with their foggy windshields.
I don't want to make lemonade out of lemons--
I want to make filet mignon out of lemons.
So watch out for Fog Dog.
Oh, wait, I can't say Fog Dog, it's taken.
Watch out for The Fog Dog, coming to a store near you.
Don't smoke The Fog Dog.
We'll be right back.