Texas executes John Balentine for killing three teens in Amarillo
Though he confessed to the murders, Balentine’s lawyers argued he might have been spared a death sentence if not for pervasive racial bias at his trial. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Questions about validity of shaken baby syndrome not enough to give Texas death row inmate new trial, court rules
Robert Roberson was sentenced to death for killing his 2-year-old daughter. Experts have since backtracked on the science used in part to win his conviction. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson seeks a new trial for the 2003 conviction of the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas on August 14, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes Robert Fratta after high courts reject challenges to expired lethal injection drugs
Fratta was convicted in the 1994 murder-for-hire of his wife. Lawyers unsuccessfully challenged Texas’ routine of extending the expiration dates of its lethal drugs, a practice begun when many pharmacies began refusing to provide doses for executions. Full Story
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![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
U.S. Supreme Court tells Texas to reconsider executing man convicted with faulty DNA evidence
Areli Escobar was sentenced to death in 2011 for an Austin murder, but even prosecutors now agree his conviction relied heavily on faulty DNA testing by the discredited Travis County crime lab. Full Story
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![The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2022.]()
Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune -
Travis County judges can’t hear appeals from migrants arrested under Texas border security push, court rules
The Court of Criminal Appeals scuttled nearly 450 cases, saying migrants arrested for trespassing in Kinney County can’t ask Austin judges to hear their appeals. Full Story
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![Walkthrough of the migrant processing facility located adjacent to the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office in Del Rio, TX.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Republican dominance continues for the two highest courts in Texas
Three seats were up for election in the Texas Supreme Court, which handles civil cases, and three in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Democrats haven’t been elected to either court since the late 1990s. Full Story
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![The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
What to know before voting for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judges
Texans will vote on three seats for the state’s highest criminal court in November. Here’s what the court does, who is running for office and what issues candidates are running on. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Execution halted as court questions whether Ramiro Gonzales should have been sentenced to life in prison
The jury sentenced Gonzales to death after a prosecution expert testified that he posed a future danger to society. The expert now says his data was wrong. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit in Huntsville on August 20, 2020.]()
Credit: Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune -
Crystal Mason’s contentious illegal voting conviction must be reconsidered, criminal appeals court says
Mason said she didn’t know she was ineligible to vote when she cast a provisional ballot in 2016, but she was sentenced to five years in prison. Now, the Court of Criminal Appeals says an appellate court that affirmed her conviction must look again at the evidence of Mason’s intent. Full Story
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![Crystal Mason in Fort Worth on Sept. 9, 2019.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas continues imprisoning migrants without filing charges or appointing lawyers, court filings claim
Months after the problems became apparent, migrants are still being kept in prison in violation of state laws under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security crackdown. Full Story
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![The migrant processing facility adjacent to the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office in Del Rio on Oct. 26, 2021.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Republicans pressure court to reverse decision blocking attorney general from prosecuting election cases
Republicans from Gov. Greg Abbott on down are pressuring the all-GOP Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reverse a December ruling that gutted the attorney general’s power to go after election cases on his own. Full Story
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![State Attorney General Ken Paxton, right, speaks at a press conference at the Houston Recovery Center on October 26, 2021.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes Pasadena double murderer in third lethal injection this year
Rick Rhoades was convicted of killing two brothers 30 years ago, the day after he'd been released from prison on parole. His attorneys argued that racial bias in jury selection denied him a fair trial. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber by Texas Department of Criminal Justice.]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas court tosses out conviction, death sentence after discovering a prosecutor also worked for the judge
Clinton Young was convicted in a 2001 Midland County murder in which he insists he was framed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said he was denied the right to a fair trial and an impartial judge. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ highest criminal court tosses death sentence of Raymond Riles, state’s longest-serving death row inmate
Riles has been deemed mentally incompetent for execution repeatedly in his decades on death row. Full Story
![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will review Crystal Mason’s controversial illegal-voting conviction
The Tarrant County woman faces a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 election while on supervised release for a federal conviction. Her vote was never counted. Full Story
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![Crystal Mason spoke about being accused of voter fraud and her upcoming court case on Sept. 9 2019 in Fort Worth.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas' highest criminal court agrees to review murder conviction of white police officer who killed unarmed Black teen
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals took the rare step Wednesday in the landmark case of Roy Oliver, who was convicted of murder in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Full Story
![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Houston judge Jesse McClure appointed to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals by Gov. Greg Abbott
McClure will replace Judge Michael Keasler, 78, who is retiring at the end of this year. Full Story
![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Jim Wright wins Texas Railroad Commission race, extending decades of Republican dominance on the oil and gas regulating board
Wright defeated Democrat Chrysta Castañeda. The commission's elected, three-member board has been entirely Republican for at least 25 years. Full Story
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![James "Jim" Wright defeated incumbent Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton in the Republican Primary.]()
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Pointing to pandemic and election controversies, Democrats make their case for Texas Supreme Court
Democrats argue the high court's pandemic-related decisions show GOP incumbents should be unseated in November. Republicans say the virus is another argument for sticking with the status quo. Full Story
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![Candidate campaign materials at the Texas Justice Tour event in Cedar Park on Feb. 16, 2020.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Texas court tosses death sentence in police killing due to intellectual disability
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals resentenced Juan Lizcano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is at least the sixth death row inmate whose sentence was reduced after the U.S. Supreme Court slammed Texas' methods for determining intellectual disability. Full Story
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![Telford prison in New Boston.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune