Criminal justice

The state put to death 13 men this year. That's more than half the total number of people executed in the entire country: 25. Still, the death row population — both here and nationwide — is at a historic low.

Full Story 

On this week’s TribCast, Emily talks to Evan, Shannon and Edgar about the Beto O'Rourke and Julián Castro presidential buzz, civil asset forfeiture in Texas and politicians wining and dining in Texas universities’ football suites.

Full Story 

A state appeals court ruled Texas' "revenge porn" law unconstitutional. Now, the state's highest criminal court will decide.

Full Story 

Braziel's attorneys failed to secure a delay in the execution after last-minute argument that prosecutorial conduct tainted his trail. He was the 13th and final inmate Texas put to death this year.

Full Story 

Researchers reviewed prison data and surveyed more than 4,000 adults this summer to determine how incarceration affects family members of prisoners.

Full Story 

Law enforcement leaders say civil asset forfeiture is a necessary tool for fighting crime, but several lawmakers see it as a violation of Americans’ civil liberties. Texas legislators are poised to take up the issue once again in 2019.

Full Story 

Juan David Ortiz, an intelligence supervisor for the Border Patrol, was arrested in the pre-dawn hours Sept. 15 after local and state law enforcement say he allegedly murdered four Laredo-area sex workers.

Full Story 

Thomas' conviction stands, but he is entitled to a new punishment hearing based on modern standards for assessing intellectual disabilities, the court ruled.

Full Story 

The court ruled Nov. 21 that six-figure payments for the prosecutors' work were outside legal limits.

Full Story 

Garcia was executed Tuesday night. He was the fourth of the "Texas Seven" inmates executed after the group escaped the Connally Unit in 2000 and killed Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas Eve robbery.

Full Story 

Prominent Texans in Washington are pushing for a criminal justice reform bill, and lawmakers are looking to the state as an example of how reform works.

Full Story 

The grand jury decided to indict Guyger on a murder charge for the Sept. 6 killing of Jean, an unarmed black man.

Full Story 

Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy has been selling Texas drugs for lethal injections for three and a half years, according to a BuzzFeed News report.

Full Story 

A bill aiming to detach the ombudsman from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice died in 2017. But news from the past year makes advocates hopeful that 2019 will be different.

Full Story 

The court denied relief on Wednesday to Wood, who never killed anyone, granting the state the opportunity to set another execution date for the 1996 murder of a store clerk in Kerrville.

Full Story 

The court threw out Turner's conviction because his defense attorneys said at trial that he had committed murder, even though Turner wanted to maintain his innocence.

Full Story 

Lawyers for Ramos had argued that he wasn’t aware of his rights under an international treaty, and therefore didn't receive proper legal counsel during his trial and sentencing.

Full Story 

Democrats flipped four major state appeals courts, toppling 19 incumbent Republican appellate judges.

Full Story 

The Houston Chronicle reports that Judge Glenn Devlin asked juvenile defendants whether they planned to kill anyone, then let nearly all of them go the day after his defeat at the polls.

Full Story 

A handful of private lawyers represent an enormous number of poor kids in Harris County's juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Meanwhile, the county's public defenders say they aren't getting enough work.

Full Story