Death row inmate Hank Skinner bought himself some time Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to address whether he can bring a federal civil rights lawsuit instead of making a habeas corpus claim. But legal experts say he’s unlikely to escape his ultimate punishment.
Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Supremes Will Hear Hank Skinner DNA Case
The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will take up Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner’s case.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Price of Innocence
Let’s say you served time for a crime you didn’t commit: How much is each year you lost really worth? A new law increases the state’s payout to exonerees, but the process of getting compensated is its own form of punishment.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Search Perry’s People
Search our updated database of Gov. Rick Perry’s more than 2,000 current appointees to state boards and commissions.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Paycheck U.
Today we’re adding another 17 agencies to our government salaries database, an extra 67,000 workers who collectively earn $2.9 billion in public payroll. The database now has records on more than 550,000 employees working at 62 of the largest state agencies, cities, universities, counties and mass-transit authorities.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: The Capitol in 3-D
The next legislative session is more than eight months away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore the Capitol grounds — from your desk — thanks to Google Maps.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Senators Get Social
With more and more state employees and elected officials using websites like Facebook and Twitter the onslaught of social media use within governmental bodies brings with it a lot of questions.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Come and Take Our Data
Records in the Texas Tribune’s data library are licensed under Creative Commons, which means you’re free to download them, remix them and republish them — so long as you comply with our simple terms.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: O’Neill Signs Off
Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill, who isn’t seeking reelection to the court, also isn’t finishing her term. She told Gov. Rick Perry and the other members of the court today that she will step down from the bench on June 20.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Combs’ Open Data Center
Susan Combs’ new texastransparency.org includes an Open Data Center, where anyone can download dozens of raw data sets, much like the federal government’s data.gov.