The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today overturned a state-jail felony drug conviction - Ex Parte Donna Marie Davenport Fritsch, out of Montgomery County - on actual innocence grounds. She was falsely convicted based on an erroneous field test that was later contradicted by testing at a DPS crime lab. From the court's order: "At the time of Applicant's arrest, the substance seized from her vehicle field-tested positive for methamphetamine. After she pleaded guilty to this offense, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory issued a report indicating that laboratory analysis of the evidence detected no controlled substance."
Makes one wonder about the validity of the "field test" used and how many other convictions have been obtained based on similar tests without confirmation by a crime lab. Said the CCA, "The trial court concludes that Applicant has demonstrated that she is actually innocent of the offense to which she pleaded guilty," and the high court formally overturned her conviction.
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