The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.
Ian Prior, a Republican operative who promoted the story for the Texas attorney general's campaign, denied that the campaign had paid the Southeast Texas Record to publish it. “Definitive no,” he said. Full Story
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Attorney General Ken Paxton said the multibillion-dollar company engaged in anti-competitive and exclusionary practices that eliminate competition for internet searches and search advertising. Full Story
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The long-running securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — now more than five years old — has been delayed for years as he resists paying special prosecutors $300 an hour. But he personally signed off on that rate for an inexperienced attorney probing a political donor’s complaint. Full Story
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Residents of the town, which is about 70 miles north of Dallas, say the 22-year-old officer, Shaun Lucas, had been overly aggressive with his traffic enforcement and berated longtime Black locals. Full Story
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The young lawyer has five years of experience and apparent ties to an attorney for Nate Paul, a political donor to Paxton at the center of the latest allegations against the attorney general. Full Story
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Top aides have accused Paxton of using the agency to serve the interests of the donor through the investigation — which has involved subpoenas related to the donor's financial interests. Full Story
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The aides are doubling down on accusations they made last week to law enforcement that Paxton had committed crimes including bribery and abuse of office. Full Story
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Cornyn said the allegations against Paxton “need to be investigated.” Full Story
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Among the documents Paxton released Wednesday was a June 10 referral from the Travis County district attorney’s office, which asked the attorney general’s office to investigate a complaint that appears to come from Nate Paul. Full Story
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The order temporarily blocks a lower court’s ruling that would have gone into effect Oct. 14 and forced Texas to provide more protective measures against the coronavirus at a geriatric prison. Full Story
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The district attorney in Tyler County, where the grand jury indicted Netflix, is the son of U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, who has labeled the movie child pornography. Full Story
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The Texas Rangers’ preliminary investigation found that Wolfe City police officer Shaun Lucas’ use of deadly force against Price was not “objectively reasonable.” Full Story
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Paxton said Monday he wouldn’t resign. Here’s what we know so far about the latest allegations against Texas’ top legal official. Full Story
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A Pearland police official told the Houston Chronicle the city needed to be prepared for an event some thought might draw 60,000 people, including protesters and counter-protesters. Full Story
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Texas has had more inmate deaths related to the coronavirus than any other prison system in the nation. Its death toll of at least 162 inmates outranks every other state as well as the federal prison system. Full Story
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Last year, Williamson County sheriff's deputies held Ambler down and stunned him four times with a Taser before his body went limp. It was filmed for a police reality TV show. Full Story
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The indictments center on about 38 ballots or applications for ballots in a Gregg County Commissioners Court race. Experts say voter fraud is rare. Full Story
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Abbott's campaign event came after a majority of likely Texas voters in a recent poll said that law and order is a bigger issue than the pandemic. Yet they were also more likely to say that racism in the criminal justice system is a larger problem than riots in American cities. Full Story
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Vialva was the seventh man executed in the federal execution chamber this year after a 17-year hiatus of the federal death penalty. Texas, meanwhile, is expected to have a comparatively low number of state executions this year because of the pandemic. Full Story
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Much of the overtime cuts were reallocated for other purposes in the department, including more than $3.8 million to hire nearly 100 civilian workers. Other new spending will go toward addressing root causes of crime and improving street lighting. Full Story
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