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The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Sharon Keller: The TT Interview

    By Morgan Smith

    The soft-spoken and — until now — media-shy presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals sat down with The Texas Tribune last week to talk about capital punishment in Texas, what she was doing on the afternoon she closed her office at 5 p.m. to a last-minute death row appeal, the flaws in the way the state sanctions judges, what it's like to be known as Sharon “Killer” Keller and the "ridiculous" idea that she doesn't care about defendants or indigent defense. Full Story 

  • An Interview with Sharon Keller

    By Morgan Smith

    The soft-spoken and — until now — media-shy presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals sat down with The Texas Tribune last week to talk about capital punishment in Texas, what she was doing on the afternoon she closed her office at 5 p.m. to a last-minute death row appeal, the flaws in the way the state sanctions judges, what it's like to be known as Sharon “Killer” Keller and the "ridiculous" idea that she doesn't care about defendants or indigent defense. Full Story 

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  • Perry By 10 in New UT/TT Poll

    By Ross Ramsey

    Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, Bill White by 10 points — 50 percent to 40 percent — in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Libertarian Kathie Glass has the support of 8 percent of respondents; Deb Shafto of the Green Party gets 2 percent. In the last UT/TT poll, conducted in early September, Perry led by 6 points, 39 percent to 33 percent. In a red state in a red year, GOP incumbents in other statewide races are beating their Democratic opponents by between 13 points and 20 points, the new poll found. Full Story 

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  • "Pay Now or Pay Later"

    By Brandi Grissom

    Mentally ill offenders and nonviolent criminals are crowding local jails to the point that the facilities could become health hazards and counties are struggling with the cost of housing and caring for the burgeoning population, according to a new report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Data App: Even More Salaries

    By Matt Stiles and Ryan Murphy

    This week we added more than 20 new public agencies to The Texas Tribune's government employee salary database. The application now features payroll data on more than 620,000 employees from 88 school districts, cities, community colleges, universities, state agencies and transit authorities. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller, Jacob Villanueva

  • Rob Owen: The TT Interview

    By Brandi Grissom

    The co-director of the University of Texas School of Law Capital Punishment Center, currently representing death row inmate Henry “Hank” Skinner before the U.S. Supreme Court, on what it's like to try a case in front of the high court, how Texas has influenced capital punishment law, why Texas juries are more inclined to impose the death penalty and the impact of life without parole. Full Story 

  • Inquiring Minds

    By Morgan Smith

    Judge Charlie Baird will decide today whether to recuse himself from an investigation into the innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Corsicana man executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three young daughters. But with or without Baird, a bigger question is in play: Is a court of inquiry the appropriate venue to consider Willingham’s guilt or innocence? Full Story 

    John Bradley and District Judge Charlie Baird.
    Credit: Illustration by Tom Pennington/Todd Wiseman

  • Community Property

    By Reeve Hamilton

    The Texas Association of Community Colleges is accusing the University of Texas of siphoning money from programs that support community colleges into UT’s College of Education. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Hank Skinner's Last Chance

    By Brandi Grissom

    The U.S. Supreme Court heard testimony Wednesday in a case that could have far-reaching ramifications for criminal justice nationally. Lawyers for Henry “Hank” Skinner maintain that the Texas death row inmate has a civil right to access DNA evidence that could exonerate him in the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend and her two sons. Lawyers for the state argue that Skinner exhausted his opportunity to analyze potentially exculpatory evidence when his defense team declined to request testing at his original trial, fearing that the results might be incriminating. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribBlog: Keller Cleared

    By Morgan Smith

    A specially appointed court of review vacated the State Commission on Judicial Conduct's sanction of Sharon Keller today, saying the state board acted unconstitutionally in reprimanding the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Full Story 

    Sharon Keller at the 2010 Texas Republican Convention.

  • ICE Under Fire

    By Julián Aguilar

    A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration. Full Story 

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    Credit: Ben Hassan

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on whether Bill White at the top of the ballot helps Houston-area candidates, Aaronson and Stiles present a treemap of Texas political ads, Stiles and Ramsey on the latest campaign finance filings, Aguilar on the Laredo mayor's race, Hamilton on anonymous tweeters who make mischief, Ramshaw interviews a disability rights activist with a thing for iPads and bibles, Hu on the accidental release of Rick Perry's "secret" schedule, M. Smith on the bitter back-and-forth over a voter registration effort in Harris County, Philpott's micro-debate on education between two House candidates, Grissom on this week's twist in the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation and, in our latest collaboration with a big-city Texas newspaper, Stiles, Grissom and John Tedesco of the San-Antonio Express News on what kind of Texans, exactly, are applying to carry concealed handguns: The best of our best from Oct. 4 to 9, 2010. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Perry Provided "Political Schedule" By Mistake

    By Elise Hu

    Texans weren't supposed to see Gov. Rick Perry's Sept. 15 schedule after all. The governor's office says it mistakenly released the governor's "political schedule" — as opposed to his schedule of official state business — to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's campaign. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Not-So-Spare Schedule

    By Elise Hu

    Gov. Rick Perry apparently keeps a more detailed schedule than what his office has previously released to the public. In what might have been a mistake, a more detailed version came out in response to an open records request from Democrat Bill White’s campaign. Full Story