The Dallas-area state appeals court reversed Dallas County’s first fentanyl dealing conviction Tuesday because the trial record shows the jury was short one person.
A Dallas County jury convicted Richard Leal of the manufacture or delivery of between four and 200 grams of fentanyl in 2024. According to a press release from the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, Dallas police pulled Leal over in 2023 and found he had fentanyl pills and other drugs. He told police he distributed pills and bricks “as samples for his people.”
It was the first fentanyl dealing case that was tried and sentenced in front of a Dallas County jury, the DA’s office said. Leal was sentenced to 30 years in prison…