The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday ruled that a Houston teen should not have been tried as an adult and spelled out better guidance for courts to consider before transferring youth defendants into the adult court system.
Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Video: Looking to Avoid Confusion Over Voter ID Shuffle
Texas’ voter ID law is in effect for the Nov. 4 general election. Election workers are working to help ensure there is no confusion as voters head to the polls.
Posted in
Demographics
Criminal Appeals Court Judge Sues State Over Voter ID Law
While a federal judge in Corpus Christi mulls whether the state’s requirement to show photo ID to cast a ballot violates the Voting Rights Act, a judge on the highest criminal appeals court in Texas has sued the state over its voter ID law.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Death Row Inmate Trottie Executed for 1993 Murders
UPDATED: Texas death row inmate Willie Tyrone Trottie was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville for the 1993 murders of his ex-girlfriend and her brother.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Judge Agrees to Release Murderer “Bernie” Backed by Austin Filmmaker
Nearly two decades after Bernie Tiede shot 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent and tucked her body in a deep freezer, a judge has released him on bond. The filmmaker Richard Linklater will house Tiede in his Austin garage apartment.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Appeals Court to Weigh Value of Advances in Forensic Evidence
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that could determine how courts across the state apply a new law that allows courts to consider changing scientific evidence.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Playlist: If Trouble Was Money
Bernie Teide, convicted of murdering an elderly woman in Carthage 15 years ago, was back in court for proceedings reconsidering his life sentence, so we lead off this all-Texas Blues playlist with “How Long Blues” by T-Bone Walker.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Seven Candidates Fight for Chance to Reshape Texas Criminal Court
At least three members of Texas’ highest criminal court will be replaced in the next year, and observers say the unusually high turnover could have a significant effect on the court’s decisions.
Posted inState Government
Court Reverses DNA Testing Decision in Swearingen Case
UPDATED: The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday reversed a lower court’s decision to allow further DNA testing in the case of death row inmate Larry Swearingen, sending his case back to a district court.
Posted in
Bidness As Usual
News App: Expanding the Ethics Explorer
We’ve expanded the officials in our Ethics Explorer to include the judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the members of the State Board of Education. We’ve also updated our existing analysis on members of the Legislature.
