Areli Escobar was sentenced to death in 2011 for an Austin murder, but even prosecutors now agree his conviction relied heavily on faulty DNA testing by the discredited Travis County crime lab.
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 prisoners launching hunger strike to protest state’s harsh solitary confinement practices
Hundreds of prisoners may participate in the protest beginning Tuesday, the first day of the state’s legislative session. Texas often keeps prisoners in solitary confinement for years or decades.
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Criminal Justice
Watch: After the Uvalde shooting, one Texas school district increases focus on mental health
Round Rock ISD is thought to be among the first school districts in Texas where social workers and police officers work directly with one another to provide mental health support to students.
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Criminal Justice
State police terminate another officer for response to Uvalde mass shooting
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw accused the suspended Texas Ranger of failing to perform his duty during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
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Uvalde school shooting
Broken hearts lead to broken traditions in Uvalde as Mata family celebrates first holidays without Tess
The Matas never celebrated Day of the Dead before; this year they built an altar at the grave of 10-year-old Tess, surrounded by family. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they broke their traditions.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas GOP lawmakers warming to opioid harm-reduction policies they once opposed
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans have expressed support for legalizing fentanyl test strips, which help users identify whether the drugs they are planning on taking contain the deadly synthetic opioid.
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Uvalde school shooting
Criminal cases in South Texas are unraveling because of a Texas Ranger’s suspension after the Uvalde shooting
After the Texas Department of Public Safety suspended Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell, one of hundreds of officers who responded to the May 24 mass shooting, felony cases he investigated are in jeopardy and experts have questioned the justification for his suspension.
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Criminal Justice
Veterans groups plead Afghan soldier’s asylum case in letter to Biden
After surviving the fallout from a war in his home country and a global trek, Abdul Wasi Safi was arrested at the Texas-Mexico border on a misdemeanor charge, delaying his chance for asylum.
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Criminal Justice
U.S. House Jan. 6 committee investigated four Texas conservative figures, transcripts reveal
The figures, who include leaders of right-wing groups and political allies of the Trump White House, largely pleaded the Fifth Amendment to questions about the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Criminal Justice
Ex-Fort Worth cop sentenced to nearly 12 years for manslaughter of Atatiana Jefferson
A jury found Aaron Dean guilty of manslaughter last week for the fatal shooting of Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, while she was babysitting her nephew in a family home.
