Texans will vote on three seats for the state’s highest criminal court in November. Here’s what the court does, who is running for office and what issues candidates are running on.
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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Uvalde school shooting
Texas state trooper who responded to Uvalde shooting fired amid investigations into police response
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Juan Maldonado is the first state police officer fired in the aftermath of a botched police response to the shooting. He was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially respond to Robb Elementary School.
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Criminal Justice
Voter fraud charges dismissed against Hervis Rogers, Houston man who waited hours to vote in 2020
Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued charges against Rogers, who was on parole when he voted in the 2020 primary election. But a judge tossed the case after a higher court said Paxton can’t unilaterally prosecute election crimes.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde school officials approve terms of superintendent’s retirement without publicly disclosing them
The school board also named Gary Patterson as the interim superintendent, but didn’t say when he would start or Harrell would depart.
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Criminal Justice
Texas struggles to get guns away from domestic violence suspects, leaving victims in danger
Although there are laws on the books preventing certain people from possessing guns, there are few places in the state where the criminal justice system has programs to hand over firearms to law enforcement — leaving survivors at a heightened risk for gun violence.
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Criminal Justice
Opponent says Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins wore blackface in 1983 college trespass
GOP candidate Lauren Davis’ campaign surfaced a Waco police report about a prank for which Jenkins apologized in 2010. He says he was only wearing camouflage at the time.
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Criminal Justice
Connecticut jury orders Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook families
The award is the largest the Texas conspiracy theorist has been ordered to pay as part of three defamation lawsuits against him for falsely claiming that the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax.
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Criminal Justice
East Texas nonprofit hopes small loans and job training will ease the hardships of leaving prison
Formerly incarcerated Texans face numerous barriers to restart their lives. Without help from the state, the Next Chapter program in Lufkin is helping people released from prison get back on their feet.
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Criminal Justice
Rodney Reed pleads before U.S. Supreme Court for DNA testing that might establish his innocence
The nation’s high court heard arguments Tuesday on whether Reed can seek DNA testing of crucial evidence in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County.
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Criminal Justice
U.S. Supreme Court rejects request to review Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas’ case
Thomas’ attorneys appealed saying that some members of the jury that sentenced him had expressed racist views. In their dissent, the court’s three liberal justices wrote that Thomas’ conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional.
