TribCast: Melissa Lucio gets a late reprieve
In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Jolie about the stay of execution in Lucio’s case and with Josh about property taxes in Texas. Full Story
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![State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, speaks at a rally organized at Dallas City Hall to free Melissa Lucio on April 7, 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court will consider appeal for DNA testing in Rodney Reed death penalty case
Reed has long professed his innocence in the 1996 murder for which he faces execution. Key evidence in the case has not been tested for DNA, including the ligature used to strangle 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Full Story
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![Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop.]()
Credit: Courtesy KXAN -
Listen as Melissa Lucio learns her life has been spared
Lucio learned of her reprieve in a phone call from state Rep. Jeff Leach. Full Story
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![Melissa Lucio prays with a group of Texas lawmakers.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Jeff Leach -
Melissa Lucio’s execution halted by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Acknowledging substantive questions about Lucio’s guilt and the fairness of her conviction, the appeals court blocked her Wednesday execution so the case can be further investigated. Full Story
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![Melissa Lucio.]()
Credit: Courtesy of the Lucio family -
Bastrop shelter caretaker accused of exploiting girls was fired from previous job for misconduct with children
State records show Iesha Greene was fired in 2020 from a state juvenile facility for having inappropriate relationships with children. The Refuge said it was aware of her previous work there, but it never requested her publicly available personnel records. Full Story
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![Brooke Crowder, Founder and CEO at The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes Carl Buntion, the state’s oldest death row prisoner, for Houston police officer’s murder
Buntion, 78, was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of a Houston police officer. His Thursday execution was the first Texas has carried out this year. Full Story
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![Huntsville, Texas: Exteriors of the Texas State Penitentiary “Walls Unit” August 20, 2020 in Huntsville, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
GOP megadonor Steven Hotze charged after a bogus election fraud scheme led a former cop to threaten a repairman
The charges stem from Hotze’s hiring of more than a dozen private investigators to look for voter fraud in Harris County ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Oath Keepers involved in Jan. 6 attack sought to protect U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, texts show
A spokesperson for Jackson said the congressman did not know the people texting about him. Full Story
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![People run away from tear gas as pro-Trump supporters storm the Capitol after a March to Save America Rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.]()
Credit: Joel Marklund/Bildbyrån via REUTERS -
Prosecutor moves to stop execution of inmate whose religious freedom case reached U.S. Supreme Court
The Nueces County district attorney, Mark A. Gonzalez, has moved to withdraw the death warrant for John Henry Ramirez, convicted of a 2004 robbery and murder. Full Story
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![Nueces County District Attorney Mark A. Gonzalez speaks at a panel during the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 28, 2019.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Facing harsh criticism in the Melissa Lucio case, Texas prosecutor may temporarily spare the woman many believe is innocent
Federal judges, five jurors who convicted her and a roster of family, politicians and celebrities believe there are substantive doubts about whether the death of Lucio’s 2-year-old daughter was even a murder. A prosecutor Tuesday appeared to open the door to canceling her scheduled April 27 execution. Full Story
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![John Lucio, center, tears up as he speaks at a press conference at Dallas City Hall concerning the future of his mother, Melissa Lucio, who is on death row and scheduled to be executed on April 27, 2022. The family is traveling the state and joining state representatives and supporters in fighting for her freedom.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Guard’s border mission needs an additional $531 million to continue past this month, top general says
Texas Military Department leaders say they’ve addressed many of the issues that arose late last year when the mission ramped up to 10,000 service members — but more money is needed to run the mission at its current pace. Full Story
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![National Guard oversee an area where the border wall ends in Del Rio, on Nov. 7, 2021.]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ Henry Cuellar one of two Democrats to vote against landmark marijuana legalization bill
The bill faces stiff headwinds in the Senate, where it would require 60 votes to pass. A similar measure the House passed in 2020 failed in the upper chamber. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-TX, speaks with attendees during the Mr. South Texas award ceremony in Laredo on Oct. 9, 2019.]()
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“Absolutely disgusting”: Family of Botham Jean demands congressional candidate Jasmine Crockett stop using his name
The family of Botham Jean, who was fatally shot by a Dallas police officer in his apartment, sent state Rep. Jasmine Crockett a cease-and-desist letter. Full Story
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![Botham Jean's mother Allison Jean, left, and his father Bertram Jean listen as family attorneys, Benjamin Crump, Lee Merrit & Daryl Washington address the press after the conviction charge of murder was delivered after deliberations for the trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, in Dallas, Oct. 1, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Jeremy Lock -
More than half of the Texas House wants to stop the execution of Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing her toddler
Despite substantive doubts surrounding the cause of her child’s death and a suspect “confession” obtained after hours of interrogation, Lucio is set to be executed next month for killing her 2-year-old daughter. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, speaks during a press conference discussing the case of Melissa Lucio and the public push for her clemency at the State Capitol on Thursday, March 24, 2022. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers are pushing for a stay of execution for Melissa Lucio saying that there is enough doubt in her case that it would be a miscarriage of justice to execute her despite the doubts.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court tells Texas to let a condemned man’s pastor touch him and pray aloud during execution
The Supreme Court ruled that the state likely violated death row inmate John Ramirez’s religious liberties when it denied his request to have his pastor lay his hands on him and pray during his upcoming execution. Full Story
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![The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 1, 2021. Today, the Supreme Court will hear cases regarding abortion in Texas.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
What is harm reduction, the drug-treatment program that Sen. Ted Cruz has criticized?
A $30 million grant program aims to mitigate the fallout from drug addiction and overdoses. Officials say Cruz’s comments about it are misleading. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on "Big Data, Big Questions: Implications for Competition and Consumers" in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21, 2021.]()
Credit: Ting Shen/Pool via REUTERS -
Texas child welfare official resigns, saying top agency leaders scapegoated employees
The former child care investigations director said there are agency-wide communication issues that led to a breakdown in relaying key information, but two of his staff members are the ones who suffered the consequences. Full Story
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![A Texas Department of Family and Protective Services employee’s desk at the agency's Austin office on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott brags about his border initiative. The evidence doesn’t back him up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. The data that Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star raise more questions than answers. Full Story
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![A photo collage a map of the Texas-Mexico border, images of the border fence, a handcuffed pair of hands and Operation Lone Star paperwork.]()
Credit: Photo illustration by John Whitlock -
TribCast: Operation Lone Star and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week
Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border mission was subject to a slew of bad news this week, including a major shakeup at the Texas Military Department, whose top leader Abbott replaced. Full Story
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![A National Guard vehicle is stationed near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 22, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas continues imprisoning migrants without filing charges or appointing lawyers, court filings claim
Months after the problems became apparent, migrants are still being kept in prison in violation of state laws under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security crackdown. Full Story
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![The migrant processing facility adjacent to the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office in Del Rio on Oct. 26, 2021.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune
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