On July 14, 2009, police in Houston, Texas arrested 24-year-old Johnathon Thomas after they confiscated a substance that field-tested positive for cocaine from him.
On July 16, 2009, Thomas pled guilty in Harris County Criminal District Court to possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 30 days in the Harris County Jail.
On September 21, 2010, the Houston Police crime laboratory tested the substance and concluded that no controlled substance was present. The laboratory test report was forwarded to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office where it was not discovered until 2014.
In 2016, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office conviction integrity unit informed Thomas’s defense attorney of the test results and joined in a state law petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
On September 21, 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated the conviction. On October 20, 2016, the prosecution dismissed the charge.
– Maurice Possley
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