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Posted on · Brown’s appeals are running out after almost 30 years on death row. Defense attorneys claim Harris County prosecutors hid evidence pointing to another suspect in the 1992 shooting deaths of four people in a Houston drug house.
Posted on · Fratta was convicted in the 1994 murder-for-hire of his wife. Lawyers unsuccessfully challenged Texas’ routine of extending the expiration dates of its lethal drugs, a practice begun when many pharmacies began refusing to provide doses for executions.
Posted on · A judge appointed by former President Donald Trump based his decision on a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down New York’s concealed carry law.
Posted on · 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.
Posted on · Migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push have been imprisoned for weeks or months waiting to appear before a judge. About 90 were finally to receive hearings this week, but court proceedings were canceled.
Posted on · The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”
Posted on · Rick Rhoades was convicted of killing two brothers 30 years ago, the day after he'd been released from prison on parole. His attorneys argued that racial bias in jury selection denied him a fair trial.
Posted on · Defense attorneys have started asking courts to set migrants free because local justice systems, overwhelmed by arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security push, are routinely violating state law and constitutional due process rights.
Posted on · Abbott’s announcements come as thousands of migrants — mostly from Haiti — have gathered under an international bridge in Del Rio.
Posted on · If the House Democrats who skipped town to block voting legislation don’t return before the special session ends, the Senate bills will languish without becoming law.
Posted on · At any given time, thousands of Texas prisoners have been approved for parole but not yet released. At least 42 of those people died in the 12 months after the coronavirus first swept the state.
Posted on · As he was fighting for the Legislature to change state bail laws, the governor continued his emergency order to restrict no-cost jail releases during the pandemic. At least several Texas courts have deemed the order unconstitutional.
Posted on · House Bill 20 would have made it harder for arrestees to get out of jail without cash and limited charitable bail funds’ ability to post bond for people. Gov. Greg Abbott said bail legislation will be included in a special session.
Posted on · On Wednesday, the state executed Quintin Jones, 41, for the Tarrant County murder of his great-aunt in 1999.
Posted on · Jones was sentenced to death in 2001 in Tarrant County after he fatally beat his great-aunt, 83-year-old Berthena Bryant, with a baseball bat. But two relatives say they’ve forgiven him and want his sentence commuted to life in prison.