| On November 7, 2012, police in Houston, Texas arrested 17-year-old Jatorick Lewis on a charge of possession of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as Ecstasy.
Twelve days later, on November 19, 2012, Lewis pled guilty to possession of narcotics in Harris County Criminal District Court. He was sentenced to three years of probation.
Lewis was arrested on a charge of robbery on September 11, 2013. On January 6, 2014, Lewis pled guilty to the robbery charge and was sentenced to five years in prison. He also pled guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison for a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in October 2012, a month prior to his earlier guilty plea to the drug charge. In addition, his probation on the drug charge was revoked and he was sentenced to six years in prison.
He was released from prison in January 2020. In January 2022, the Harris County District Attorney’s office sent a letter to Lewis reporting that the Houston Police crime laboratory had tested the substance seized from Lewis in 2012, and that it was negative for the presence of any illegal substance. The test had been conducted on December 26, 2012, about five weeks after Lewis had pled guilty.
In May 2023, Lewis was arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In June 2023, Lewis filed a state law petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to vacate his drug conviction based on the negative finding by the crime laboratory.
In July 2023, Lewis pled guilty to the gun and vehicle charges and was sentenced to three years in prison.
In September 2024, a judge recommended to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the writ be granted. On October 23, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Lewis’s drug conviction.
On November 20, 2024, the prosecution dismissed the drug case.
– Maurice Possley
|