Michael Anthony Green was supposed to be freed today after serving 27 years for a rape he didn’t commit. The exoneration is the second in two weeks to come from Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos’ Post Conviction Review Section. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said the findings give more credence to his argument that Texas needs a state innocence commission.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: A Teen Debtor’s Prison in Hidalgo?
The ACLU has sued Hidalgo County for jailing an estimated 150 impoverished youths for failure to pay fines racked up on school-related tickets. Such sentences amount to running a “debtor’s prison” and violate the Constitution and Texas law, ACLU attorneys argue.
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Criminal Justice
A Conversation with Harriet O’Neill
After nearly two decades on the bench, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill stepped down earlier this year. She talks with the TT’s Morgan Smith about her legacy and what’s next.
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Criminal Justice
Harriet O’Neill: The TT Interview
The former Texas Supreme Court justice on her 18 years in the judiciary, women on the court, the all-Republican bench and what she really thinks about judicial elections.
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TribBlog: The Karate Kid
Supreme Court Justice David Medina can throw a punch — and take one too.
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Hide in Plain Sight
A few elected officials and municipalities in Texas are asking a federal judge to throw out the state’s open meetings law, which they claim is an infringement on free speech. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
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TribBlog: A “Public Warning” For Keller [Updated]
Sharon Keller got a “public warning” from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for refusing to keep her office open past 5 pm on the day a Texas death row inmate was scheduled to die.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Cornyn Says No to Kagan
The senator says Kagan has not made clear she would “protect the fundamental rights written in our constitution.”
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Criminal Justice
The Long Arm of the Law
Curbing the practice of barratry — “ambulance chasing,” in the vernacular — has prompted an uneasy alliance between tort reformers and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association: They agree on reform … just not on the form it should take.
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Criminal Justice
Data App: Personal Finance
Politicians, candidates and other state officers are required to disclose their personal finances, to discourage conflicts of interest and, according to the law, “strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of this state in state government.” Yet getting these documents isn’t easy, so we’ve put all 3,070 available online.