| On April 14, 2023, police in Conroe, Texas arrested a homeless woman, 37-year-old Christine Holmes, and charged her with possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance after a field test was positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
On April 27, 2023, Holmes pled guilty in Montgomery County Criminal District Court to possession of a controlled substance. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was released two days later.
On July 7, 2023, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office sent a letter to Holmes’s attorney, Brian Cain, reporting that the test conducted on the substance seized from Holmes by the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory was negative for any illegal substance.
On November 1, 2023, Cain filed a state law petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to vacate Holmes’s conviction. On November 28, 2023, the prosecution filed a response agreeing that the conviction should be vacated.
On November 30, 2023, a trial court judge signed an order recommending that the writ be granted.
On January 24, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated the conviction.
On March 22, 2024, the prosecution dismissed the case.
– Maurice Possley
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