Dallas County’s headline-grabbing first fentanyl-dealing jury conviction just got wiped off the books because, as it turns out, there were not enough people in the jury box.
On Tuesday, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas threw out the conviction of Richard Eric Leal after concluding the trial record showed only 11 jurors had actually been empaneled. Leal, convicted in 2024 and serving a 30-year sentence, now gets a do-over because proceeding without a full twelve-person jury violated his rights, the court ruled.
The memorandum opinion, filed November 18, 2025, states that the record “shows appellant was tried before and convicted by a jury of eleven members” and holds that the missing twelfth juror requires reversal and a remand to the trial court, according to Justia. Writing for the panel, Justice Mike Lee rejected the State’s argument that Leal forfeited the issue by failing to object during trial, and the court said the record could not be fixed after the fact to show a twelfth juror.
Leal was convicted in April 2024 of manufacturing or delivering between four and 200 grams of fentanyl, an offense treated as a first-degree felony under the Legislature’s recent fentanyl law, and received a 30-year sentence, according to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. Court materials and the office’s own summary say Dallas police pulled Leal over in 2023 and found a shoulder satchel with fentanyl pills and other drugs. The DA’s account says Leal told investigators he could obtain “thousands of pills and bricks” and talked about giving out samples “for his people.” The office publicly touted the case as the first fentanyl-dealing prosecution tried and sentenced before a Dallas County jury.
On appeal, Leal’s attorney, Brett Ordiway, zeroed in on the missing-juror problem and later called the ruling “an emphatic victory for the rule of law,” as reported by KERA News. The district attorney’s filings, described by KERA, told the court it was “unclear” whether a twelfth juror had been seated and left off the record or whether only 11 jurors ever served. According to KERA, Leal’s trial counsel declined to comment, and reporters contacted the DA’s office for further response.
Why the court reversed
The appeals court grounded its decision in the Texas Constitution and state criminal procedure, noting that a felony trial with fewer than twelve jurors is a structural defect that cannot be fixed by a silent or incomplete record. The opinion emphasizes that the record plainly shows appellant was tried before and convicted by a jury of eleven members, leaving no room for the court to assume a waiver or an unrecorded extra juror, according to Justia. That conclusion is what compelled the panel to reverse Leal’s conviction and send the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
How this fit in with regional enforcement
The decision lands in the middle of Texas’s broader crackdown on fentanyl, under a recent state law that increased penalties for distribution and encouraged prosecutors to push hard in local courts. Leal’s 30-year sentence was one of the earlier high-profile outcomes under that enforcement push, according to KERA News. Neighboring Collin County has also secured lengthy prison terms in fentanyl-related prosecutions this year, highlighting how North Texas prosecutors are testing the new statute in front of juries, according to The Dallas Morning News.
For now, the appeals ruling erases Leal’s 30-year sentence and returns the case to the 282nd Judicial District Court. Prosecutors can seek a new trial or pursue other options that are available on remand. Whatever comes next will play out through new filings and hearings in the trial court in the weeks ahead.
