In his biennial state of the judiciary, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht also warned against politics’ encroachment into the third branch of government.
Jolie McCullough
Jolie McCullough was a reporter at The Texas Tribune from 2015 to 2023. She began as a data visualization journalist and then reported on criminal justice policy, ranging from policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She joined the Tribune from the Albuquerque Journal, her hometown newspaper. She previously worked at the Arizona Republic and is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas House passes bill barring the death penalty for some mentally ill defendants
The chamber has repeatedly passed legislation in recent sessions eliminating the death penalty in cases of severe mental illness, but this year the measure faced increased pushback from conservative lawmakers.
Posted in
Guns in Texas
Sutherland Springs shooting victims reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with U.S. government
The U.S. Department of Justice also agreed to drop its appeal of a lawsuit in which a judge found the military mostly at fault for the 2017 mass shooting at a church.
Posted in
Health care
Hearing scheduled for abortion-pill lawsuit, but Texas judge delays announcing it publicly
Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk wanted to minimize protests and threats in connection with the closely-watched case, people familiar with the plan said.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas executes Arthur Brown Jr. for Houston slayings despite claims of innocence, intellectual disability
Brown’s appeals ran out after almost 30 years on death row. Defense attorneys claim Harris County prosecutors hid evidence pointing to another suspect in the 1992 shooting deaths of four people in a Houston drug house.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2023
Lawmakers offer stark choices for ending the crisis in Texas’ youth prisons — shut them all down, or build more
Plagued by decades of scandals over sexual and physical abuse of children, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is at a crossroads.
Posted in
Juvenile Justice
In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp
Police often can’t tell if a cannabis vape pen is derived from marijuana or legal hemp, like the delta-8 products on display in gas stations across Texas. That doesn’t stop them from making felony arrests in high schools.
Posted in
Politics
Asylum-seekers who cross the border illegally to be deported under new Biden administration rule
The new rule is designed to push migrants to seek asylum at official border crossings or through other legal channels rather than crossing the border illegally and then requesting asylum.
Posted in
Health care
Texas lawsuit that seeks to ban abortion drug nationwide sparks fear among advocates
A decision on the lawsuit could come as early as this week.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas executes Wesley Ruiz despite ongoing fight over state’s use of old lethal injection drugs
Ruiz was convicted in the 2007 shooting death of Dallas police Senior Cpl. Mark Nix after a high-speed chase.
