He can’t read or write, struggles to speak, and at age 19 has an IQ of 47. Yet a judge in the northeast Texas town of Paris still sentenced Aaron Hart to 100 years in prison for performing sexual acts on a 6-year-old neighbor. An appeals court overturned Aaron’s conviction this spring. Now he sits in jail facing the same charges a second time, and his family is praying for a different outcome.
August 2010
Posted in
Energy
Oil’s Well That Ends Well
Halfway through a controversial six-month hold on deep water oil drilling, Matt Largey of KUT News reports, energy sector jobs in Texas appear relatively unaffected.
Posted in
Demographics
The Road to Candelaria
State lawmakers looking for guidance on how to draft immigration legislation that can withstand legal challenges may not have to wait for resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona. A case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could light the path.
Posted in
Energy
Hola, Amigas
Texas has always operated its own electricity grid, separate from the two other grids that span the rest of the nation. But a project quietly emerging in eastern New Mexico could curb that independence — and affect energy prices here in ways that remain much in dispute.
Posted inState Government
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 43
In this week’s TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Reeve discuss the state of the governor’s race, the donor-appointee pipeline and the legislative races to watch this fall.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: Judge Denies DeLay’s Request to Move Trial
Judge Pat Priest has just denied Tom DeLay’s request for a change of venue. The former congressman will be tried in Travis County, though he may still raise the issue again during the process of jury selection. The trial date has tentatively been set for Oct. 26.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Defending the Innocent
The Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense today approved money to help establish a public defender’s office in Harris County — the largest urban area in the nation without one — along with a slate of measures meant to prevent innocent people from serving time.
Posted in
Congress
Tom DeLay’s Negative Numbers
During a break in Wednesday’s pretrial hearing, former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, discuss a poll that shows a significant portion of potential jurors in Travis County already believe he’s guilty. They’re using the numbers to argue for a change of venue in the state’s money laundering case against DeLay.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: Bill Flores is a Businessman
In the first ad of his general election campaign against U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, Bill Flores evokes a familiar anti-Washington theme.