The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
After weeks of planning and speculation about what Pope Francis might say during his visit to the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez area on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are finally ready for the all-day affair. Full Story
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Some news for the armchair detectives second-guessing how U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death in Texas was declared over the phone: Not every dead body gets an autopsy, and Texas is no outlier in that department. Full Story
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Baylor University has opted out of Texas' campus carry law, joining the long list of Texas private universities that have decided to continue banning handguns on their campuses. Full Story
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From city officials working to rebrand Ciudad Juárez as a safe and organized metropolis to the mother and daughter who met along opposite sides of a border fence, Pope Francis' visit here is fraught with symbolism. Full Story
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After 24 years on death row, a re-sentencing trial and an escape attempt, Gustavo Julian Garcia, 43, was executed Tuesday evening. Full Story
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One week after an Austin police officer shot and killed an unarmed, black 17-year-old, two San Antonio tourists filed a federal excessive force lawsuit against several Austin Police Department officers. Full Story
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He's appealing a a five-count barratry conviction and facing a field of strong Democratic primary challengers, and yet state Rep. Ron Reynolds is surprisingly upbeat about his chances to keep his seat and his law license. Full Story
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The Texas Forensic Science Commission on Friday recommended that prosecutors temporarily stop using bite-mark evidence in criminal cases until questions are answered about its scientific validity. Full Story
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The families of several U.S. citizens murdered in Mexico filed a lawsuit this week against HSBC Holdings and its subsidiaries alleging the company supported various drug cartel activities by laundering millions of dollars for gangs. Full Story
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Deported to his native Mexico for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, Juan Leonardo Quintero returned to Houston and easily resumed his life. When he killed a police officer in 2006, Quintero became a poster child for loose border enforcement. Full Story
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In all three state Supreme Court seats up for election this year, Republican incumbents face primary challengers on March 1 – but that's where the similarities end. Full Story
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How to deal with, or talk about, foreigners who commit crimes in the United States — the government’s term for them is the politically incorrect “criminal aliens” — has prompted heated calls for vastly different solutions. Full Story
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The Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals Monday upheld the disbarment of former Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta Jr. for professional misconduct in the capital murder case of Anthony Graves. Full Story
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The State Auditor's Office is investigating whether state Rep. Dawnna Dukes improperly required her legislative staffers to participate in work for a nonprofit group that she founded, a Capitol source told The Texas Tribune on Friday. Full Story
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The Harris County Sheriff's Office has decided to keep secret its investigative files on a Mexican national whose 2015 shooting spree in Houston left two people dead and three injured. Full Story
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Fourteen years after first being elected to the Texas House, state Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, faces what some consider his toughest re-election battle to date. Full Story
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Although the Court of Criminal Appeals is the highest criminal court in the state — and it deals with a number of hot-button issues including the death penalty — its nine judges don’t attract much attention. That can make campaigning for a seat on the court difficult. Full Story
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Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia's arraignment on a perjury charge related to his arrest of Sandra Bland will be held in March, the Waller County District Clerk's office confirmed. Full Story
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Mark Anthony Gonzalez arrived on death row last week after being convicted in the shooting death of Bexar County Sheriff Sgt. Kenneth Vann. With his arrival and the executions of Richard Masterson and James Freeman in January, there are now 252 people in Texas living with a death sentence. Full Story
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As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case challenging President Barack Obama's executive order on illegal immigration, the two top lawyers for Texas spoke to the Tribune about what the state is fighting for. Full Story
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