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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
Texas National Guard soldier won’t face civilian charges in border shooting of migrant
The soldier, serving as part of Operation Lone Star, said he accidentally fired his weapon, wounding the migrant in January.
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El Paso shooting
Gunman in 2019 El Paso mass shooting receives 90 life sentences
Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday in federal court. He still faces state charges, and the local district attorney says he intends to seek the death penalty.
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Criminal Justice
Texas courts struggle to resolve criminal appeals that got lost in Harris County for decades
Overlooked in the churn of one of the country’s busiest courthouses, the forgotten appeals included two death penalty cases, and one from a man who’s already finished his 20-year sentence.
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Criminal Justice
Travis Scott won’t be indicted for Astroworld concert tragedy that killed 10, grand jury decides
A Houston grand jury decided Thursday not to indict rap star Travis Scott for the deaths of 10 people at the 2021 Astroworld Festival when fans collapsed in a massive crowd.
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Criminal Justice
Texas’ highest criminal court emphatically rejects death row inmate Rodney Reed’s claim of innocence
Reed, a Black man on death row for more than 25 years, has gained international support for his claims that he did not kill 19-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman. Another appeal over DNA testing of evidence is still pending.
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Criminal Justice
Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of death
Since a heat wave gripped Texas, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, have died of heart attacks or unknown causes in prisons lacking air conditioning. It’s been 11 years since the state last classified a death as heat-related.
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Criminal Justice
Charges filed against five more people in San Antonio smuggling tragedy that killed 53 migrants
A year after the nation’s deadliest human smuggling event, federal prosecutors say seven people face a maximum of life in prison. One of the suspects, who was not identified, has not been arrested.
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Criminal Justice
State troopers will resume patrolling Austin streets in July, with some changes in response to criticism
Texas Department of Public Safety officers were criticized for the disparate number of Latino and Black residents arrested during the first iteration of a partnership to help Austin with policing duties.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Trap-neuter-release programs for cats are now legally protected in Texas
Animal advocates are deeply divided over whether so-called TNR policies are a good idea. A bill signed by the governor last weekend gives them legal protection statewide.