On August 4, 2014, police in Spring Valley, Texas arrested 25-year-old Donald Stiers and seized nearly 250 suspected pills that field-tested positive as ecstasy.
On September 18, 2014, Stiers pled guilty in Harris County Criminal District Court to possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
On October 20, 2014, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences crime laboratory tested the pills and no controlled substances were found. The pills were over-the-counter antihistamines.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office’s Post Conviction Review Unit notified Stiers’ defense attorney and joined in a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On November 6, 2014, the trial court judge recommended that the conviction be vacated and the charges dismissed. Stiers was released on bond on November 20, 2014.
On December 10, 2014, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Stiers conviction. On January 13, the charge was dismissed.
– Maurice Possley
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