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Wandra Jacobs

Other Harris County Drug Exonerations
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On April 1, 2009, police in Houston, Texas arrested 28-year-old Wandra Jacobs after they confiscated a substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.

On April 17, 2009, Jacobs pled guilty in Harris County Criminal District Court to possession of a controlled substance. She was placed on deferred adjudication, but violated the terms of the status and in December 2009 was sentenced to 90 days in the Harris County Jail.

On April 29, 2009, The Houston Police Department crime laboratory tested the substance seized from Jacobs and no illegal drugs were detected.

The report of the lab tests was forwarded to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, but was misplaced until years later.

Eventually, the Harris County District Attorney’s conviction integrity unit forwarded the lab report to a defense attorney for Jacobs and in 2016 joined in a state-law petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The trial judge recommended that the writ be granted.

In June 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated the conviction. On July 13, 2016, the prosecution dismissed the charge.

– Maurice Possley

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Posting Date: 7/14/2016
State:Texas
County:Harris
Most Serious Crime:Drug Possession or Sale
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:2009
Convicted:2009
Exonerated:2016
Sentence:90 days
Race/Ethnicity:Black
Sex:Female
Age at the date of reported crime:28
Contributing Factors:False or Misleading Forensic Evidence
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No