A Travis County jury sentenced Perry to 25 years in prison last year, prompting Abbott to ask the state parole board to review his case.
William Melhado
William Melhado was an Austin-based general assignment reporter until 2024. He originally joined the Tribune in 2022 as a Poynter-Koch fellow. Before his time at the Tribune, William worked as a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, an alt-weekly newspaper in New Mexico, and he also worked as an educator for five years at a public high school in the Bronx, New York and at international schools in Tanzania and Nepal. A native of Boulder, Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and earned a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College.
Posted in
Politics
Two years later, judge orders new election for Harris County judicial seat
Democratic Judge DaSean Jones beat out Tami Pierce by 449 votes in 2022, prompting one of several election challenges filed by unsuccessful Republican candidates. Many other election challenges were dismissed.
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Demographics
Galveston County redistricting case draws divide among federal appeals court judges
The 5th Circuit expressed skepticism about arguments from both sides in considering whether a coalition of Black and Latino voters should be granted the same protections as a single racial group under the Voting Rights Act.
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Criminal Justice
Houston woman is third guilty plea in Henry Cuellar bribery case
Irada Akhoundova pleaded guilty to facilitating a $60,000 payment to Imelda Cuellar, the congressman’s wife, that she believed would benefit Azerbaijan and its state-run oil company.
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Criminal Justice
Feds accuse Texas prison agency of discriminating against employee for wearing a headscarf
A federal lawsuit asserts that the Texas agency terminated a state prison clerk who refused to remove a head covering in line with her Ifa faith.
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Politics
Pornhub suspends site in Texas due to state’s age-verification law
Legal experts say a 5th Circuit decision to uphold part of a Texas law regulating adult entertainment websites conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent regarding minors’ access to obscene material online.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Appeals court considers whether West Texas A&M drag show was unconstitutionally banned
University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag performance last year, claiming such shows “denigrate and demean women.”
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Politics
After no contest plea, a Texas representative’s charges for impersonating a public servant are dismissed
In June 2022, state Rep. Frederick Frazier was indicted on two charges of impersonating a public servant. A Collin County district judge dismissed the misdemeanor charges as part of his deferred adjudication.
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Public Education
Appeals court blocks Texas from enforcing book rating law
Plaintiffs claimed that the 2023 law, which required book vendors to rate the explicitness of sexual references in materials sold to schools, was unconstitutionally broad.
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Criminal Justice
Texas criminal appeals court removes Tomas Gallo from death row because of his intellectual disability
The court re-sentenced Gallo to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter.