Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year, accused of using excessive force against people protesting the murder of George Floyd.
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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El Paso shooting
El Paso lawmaker aids Uvalde shooting investigation three years after massacre in his city
State Rep. Joe Moody rushed to the site of a mass shooting in his city in 2019, then warned House colleagues that it would happen again as they passed a permitless carry bill. Now he’s at the center of the investigation into the Uvalde massacre.
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Criminal Justice
Texan basketball star Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years after being found guilty in Russian drug case
Griner’s allies remain hopeful President Joe Biden will secure a prisoner swap, much like he did earlier this year with another Texan, ex-Marine Trevor Reed.
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El Paso shooting
“I think of them always,” survivor of El Paso Walmart shooting says of those who were killed three years ago
Speaking out for the first time, an El Paso mom recounts the moments from a bank inside the Walmart where 23 people were fatally shot and dozens more were injured in 2019.
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Juvenile Justice
A mother watches helplessly as her teenage boy deteriorates in a Texas youth prison
The state of Texas has essentially controlled her son’s life since he was 11. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department was supposed to keep him safe and help him get better. It has failed at every turn.
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Juvenile Justice
Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapse
The agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.
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Juvenile Justice
Inspection reports reflect the desperation and danger youths face in Texas juvenile prisons
Visits to Texas’ severely understaffed youth prisons show suicide attempts without intervention, water bottles being used as makeshift toilets, and a rash of possibly gang-related fights.
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Criminal Justice
Texan who prosecutors say “lit the match” of Jan. 6 riot sentenced to more than 7 years in prison
Guy Reffitt, a 49-year-old Wylie resident, never entered the Capitol but helped ignite the crowd “into an unstoppable force,” a prosecutor at his trial said. His sentence is the longest given out so far from the Jan. 6 riot.
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Criminal Justice
Bucking other Texas Democrats, Cuellar and Gonzalez vote against U.S. House bill that would ban semi-automatic weapons
The chamber’s attempt to ban semi-automatic weapons after a series of mass shootings appears destined to fail in the Senate.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde elementary principal reinstated after school shooting investigation, lawyer says
Mandy Gutierrez was put on paid leave Monday and responded Wednesday to a Texas House committee’s investigative report about the massacre. On Thursday, her attorney released a letter from the Uvalde superintendent saying she’s no longer on administrative leave.
