courts

Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, left, shot and killed Botham Shem Jean in his apartment.

Jury deliberating fate of Dallas police officer who shot unarmed man in his apartment

by Tasha Tsiaperas and Bradley Blackburn, WFAA-TV

A Dallas County jury will decide if Amber Guyger committed murder, manslaughter or no crime at all when she shot and killed Botham Jean in 2018. And a judge said jurors can consider the state's Castle Doctrine while deliberating.

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Texas executes Robert Sparks after brutal deaths of his stepsons, wife

by Jolie McCullough

Sparks was convicted in the 2007 stabbing deaths of his family members in his Dallas home. His lawyers sought to stop his execution with arguments of intellectual disability and a jury tainted by a bailiff wearing a syringe tie.

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Stephen Barbee on Sept. 23, 2019.

Texas court halts the execution of Stephen Barbee to consider U.S. Supreme Court precedent

by Jolie McCullough

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay in Barbee's case. He was scheduled to be executed Oct. 2.

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Phil Wood was killed in Austin in 2014 by a driver who left the scene of the accident.

Texas raises sentencing for hit-and-run car accidents to equivalent of DWI manslaughter

by Chase Karacostas and Stacy Fernández

A new law increased the punishment for failing to stop and render aid to match the sentence for DWI manslaughter. The goal is to deter drunken drivers from leaving the scene of an accident.

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National Rifle Association members attend the NRA Leadership Forum and Expo in Dallas, Texas on May 4, 2018. Photos by Shelby Knowles

How hard-charging Dallas lawyer William Brewer III helped fuel a civil war inside the NRA

by Carol D. Leonnig and Tom Hamburger, The Washington Post

The well-known attorney’s hardball methods were labeled “Rambo tactics” long ago by other Dallas lawyers. Now the Democratic donor has emerged as a major figure in the fracturing of the powerful gun lobby.

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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.

Crystal Mason's ballot was never counted. Will she still serve five years in prison for illegally voting?

by Emma Platoff and Alexa Ura

Her lawyers say if her sentence stands, it could discourage low-information voters from going to the polls at all.

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An aerial shot of the dam on Lake McQueeny near Seguin on Aug. 30, 2019.

Central Texas river authority, lakefront property owners reach settlement to avoid draining four lakes — for now

by Chase Karacostas

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and property owners in Guadalupe and Gonzales Counties agreed to not drain four lakes held up by 90-year-old dams, on the condition that recreational use of the lakes is banned.

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Inmates in the Harris County Jail in 2011.

Federal judge orders Galveston County to have defense lawyers at bail-setting hearings

by Jolie McCullough

Galveston County, like Harris and Dallas, was sued for bail practices that lawyers and judges have said discriminate against poor criminal defendants.

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Prison staff and inmates move through the Darrington Unit's main hallway on Wednesday, July 12, 2017.

"We failed as an agency": Texas prison officials admit violating court order on air conditioned units for inmates

by Jolie McCullough

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier was questioned in court for about two hours for not complying with a court order to keep some Texas prisoners in air conditioned housing.

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Legislators review redistricting maps on the House floor.

How a decade of voting rights fights led to fewer redistricting safeguards for Texas voters of color

by Alexa Ura

In a state with a long history of discrimination, lawmakers on Tuesday will kick off the 2021 round of political mapmaking — the first in nearly half a century without federal oversight.

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A Chick-Fil-A van outside of their location on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Austin on May 9, 2019.

San Antonio sued for excluding Chick-fil-A from airport

by Acacia Coronado

The lawsuit, filed by five area residents, cites state legislation passed this year that outlaws government retaliation based on “membership in and support to religious organizations.”

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Inmates shuffle past fans in the Darrington prison's main hallway on a hot July day.

“The stakes could not be higher”: Judge threatens to lock up Texas prison officials over air conditioning violation

by Jolie McCullough

A federal judge was visibly frustrated Friday as he suggested that putting state officials in uncooled cells might be the only way to get their attention after they broke a settlement agreement to keep some inmates in air conditioning.

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Randy Halprin, then 23, one of the "Texas Seven" prison escapees, is led out of the Teller County Courthouse after a extradition hearing in Cripple Creek, Colorado on Jan. 26, 2001.

Lawyers say the Texas judge who presided over this Jewish death row inmate's trial later called him anti-Semitic slurs

by Chase Karacostas

Lawyers for Randy Halprin, a member of the "Texas Seven," are requesting a stay of his execution amid allegations that the judge who handled his case made racist and anti-Semitic comments during his time on the bench.

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"Red" Godwin pours a beer behind the bar at Zilker Brewery in Austin on June 26, 2019. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the "Beer To Go Bill" which will allow consumers to bring home beer they buy at breweries. The bill is set to go in effect in September.

TribCast: Behind the new Texas laws that take effect Sept. 1

by Emily Ramshaw and Michael Rey de Leon

On this week’s TribCast, Emily talks to Ross, Alexa, Alex and Neena about the biggest new state laws taking effect Sept. 1, a crisis facing indigent defense in Texas, the new Texas secretary of state and the latest from the presidential campaign trail.

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How judicial conflicts of interest are denying poor Texans their right to an effective lawyer

by Neena Satija, Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly

For decades, Texans who can’t afford a lawyer have gotten caught in a criminal justice system that’s crippled by inadequate funding and overloaded attorneys. A growing body of caseload data — and a recent lawsuit — point to an even more fundamental hazard: the unchecked power of Texas judges.

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The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans.

5th Circuit upholds Indian Child Welfare Act as constitutional, reversing lower court

by Emma Platoff

The appeals court overturned a 2018 decision from a federal district judge who ruled that the law, which gives adoption placement preference to Native American tribes, was unconstitutional. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged the law in 2017.

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The Justices of the Texas Supreme Court hear the Texas Department of Criminal Justice v. Maurie Levin, et al. case on Jan. 23, 2019.

With a new vacancy on the Texas Supreme Court, attention turns to diversity concerns

by Emma Platoff

Gov. Greg Abbott has his third opportunity to appoint a judge to the state's highest civil court. His first two picks were white men.

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Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown listens to Philip Durst during a hearing for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice v. Maurie Levin, et al. case on Jan. 23, 2019.

U.S. Senate confirms Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown to the federal bench

by Emma Platoff

The nod creates a vacancy on the state's highest civil court, giving Gov. Greg Abbott his third opportunity to make an appointment.

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Around the Clock Bail Bonds on 10th St. and Nueces in Austin on May 8, 2019.

Harris County agreed to reform bail practices that keep poor people in jail. Will it influence other Texas counties?

by Jolie McCullough

Commissioners approved a settlement aiming to end yearslong litigation over Harris County's misdemeanor bail system. Similar lawsuits in Dallas and other Texas cities also target how bail is set for people charged with felonies.

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Asylum seekers from Central and South America wait on the Mexican side of the Brownsville/Gateway Bridge.

Federal judge in California halts Trump’s latest asylum ban

by Maria Sacchetti and Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post

The judge said that Congress' laws should not be overridden by "executive fiat." But the decision came hours after another federal judge declined to halt the policy, setting up a potential race to appellate courts over the matter.

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