Most Texas prisons lack air conditioning. At least 41 prisoners have died of heart-related or undetermined causes since the unrelenting heat wave began.
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
Former judge declines to serve as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s adviser for Ken Paxton impeachment trial
A day after Patrick announced the appointment, Marc Brown declined it, citing a campaign contribution he made to Paxton’s GOP primary opponent in 2021.
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Criminal Justice
Accomplice tied to Vanessa Guillén’s slaying given 30-year prison term
Cecily Aguilar, 25, pleaded guilty last year to helping her boyfriend, Spc. Aaron Robinson, dismember and bury the remains after Robinson bludgeoned 20-year-old Guillén to death in April 2020 at Fort Hood.
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Criminal Justice
A prison guard says she was forced to stay at her post during labor pains. Texas is fighting compensation for her stillbirth.
The seven-months-pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. The anti-abortion state is fighting her lawsuit, in part by saying her fetus didn’t clearly have rights.
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Criminal Justice
Texas state troopers are routinely stopping motorists of color in Austin, data shows
More than 8 in 10 people charged by state troopers since they began helping Austin police have been people of color. In Southeast Austin, a neighborhood president calls it “outright racial profiling.”
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Criminal Justice
“A place of torment”: 22 families, former inmates sue Harris County over jail conditions
A federal lawsuit accuses the sheriff’s office of violating the constitutional rights of inmates, dozens of whom have died or been injured at the jail in recent years.
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The 2023 Texas Tribune Festival
T-Squared: The wait is over. Our full program for TribFest23 is here!
We’re bringing people together for talks that will examine education, Texas’ energy future, the 2024 races for U.S. Senate and president, and the state of democracy.
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Criminal Justice
Ken Paxton moves one step closer to trial on long-delayed securities fraud charges
The impeached attorney general appeared in a Houston courtroom, where lawyers from both sides agreed to return in October to set an expected trial date on charges that have been pending since 2015.
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Criminal Justice
Dallas attorney Sidney Powell appears to be “co-conspirator” in new Trump indictment
Though she is not named in the four-count indictment filed Tuesday against Trump, the Justice Department makes numerous references to a “co-conspirator 3” whose description matches Powell, a prominent election fraud conspiracy theorist.
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Criminal Justice
“Someone’s going to end up dead”: New evidence emerges in Travis Scott Astroworld tragedy
A new Houston police report details how the rapper perceived what was happening and what he told investigators. It also contains police interviews with concert promoters, security personnel and other key witnesses.