Sheriff Adrian Garcia spent part of his week last week testifying before the Department of Justice about the rate of abuse that occurs under his watch.
An El Paso police investigator bullied sixteen-year-old Daniel Villegas into falsely confessing to two murders. Where were his parents? Where was his lawyer? And why, after eighteen years in prison, does the district attorney want to keep him locked up?
A federal lawsuit filed by Dr. Glen Hurlston claims that the former chief of police in Princeton, Texas—who currently holds that role in the Austin suburb of Kyle—and several of his fellow officers harassed him while the chief had an affair with his wife.
After eight years of lobbying, the Texas Federation of Animal Care Societies finally got the law in effect.
Anthony Graves was wrongfully convicted of capital murder in a trial where the prosecutor, Charles Sebesta, withheld evidence that could have helped prove Graves’s innocence. So why hasn’t Sebesta been held accountable for his egregious misconduct?
A remarkable and richly deserved award for Pam Colloff
A Houston judge threw out the lawsuit against the state by three death row inmates who claimed that Texas was planning to kill them using unknown and untested drugs, so they're taking it to a higher court.
Held in custody for 42 hours, 37-year-old Sarah Tibbetts died after being arrested while in possession of someone else's credit card and trace amounts of marijuanta in baggies in her purse.
Jerry Duane Martin killed a correctional officer as he tried breaking out of prison, and tonight he will be executed. But the man who tried escaping with him, and who some believe is also culpable for the officer's death, hasn't been convicted of the six-year-old crime.
This week, after announcing yet another new tactic to curb domestic violence in the city, it's clear that Dallas's efforts could become a blueprint for other communities wanting to focus on this issue.
Four women spent more than thirteen years in prison because of bad science and scurrilous tales told by children who had been coached by an adult. They’re free now, but who else is sitting behind bars based on these types of false accusations?
Visiting Tarrant County Judge Jerry Ray was not happy when a jury found David Duc Tran not guilty of DWI despite Intoxilyzer evidence. He likened the decision to the jury's verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial.
Christopher Scott spent nearly thirteen years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. When the state realized its error and exonerated him, he used the money he received for his wrongful conviction to open a men's wear store.
What will an independent audit of Anderson’s old criminal cases turn up?
A small group of committed protesters show up to nearly every execution in Huntsville to exercise their civil rights in what has become a sort of ritual.
Eight years ago Margie Cantrell pushed law enforcement to investigate allegations of abuse by a group of adults in Mineola. Seven people were convicted of child sexual abuse, and the scandal rocked East Texas. Now, two of those same children are alleging Cantrell physically abused them.
On February 3, 2012, Fred Yazdi shot and killed 23-year-old Enrique Recio. In the latest test of Texas's Castle Doctrine, his trial ended last night with a conviction.
Cameron Todd Willingham became famous in death after the arson science used to convict him of murder and send him to death row wasdebunked. The debunking came in 2009 when the Texas Forensic Science Commission investigation concluded that “a finding of arson could not be sustained” in his
Graves used funds he received from the state for his wrongful conviction to set up a law school scholarship in the name of Nicole Cásarez, the Houston attorney and journalism professor who fought for eight years to secure his freedom.
Ever wondered what it's like to go to jail? The Express-News sent a reporter through the booking process—but how well does it reflect the experience of people who aren't going in voluntarily?
According to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Associated Press, Texas is down to its last eight vials of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital—and the Houston-area "compounding pharmacy" that made them wants them back. What happens when the state runs out?
According to the Guardian, masturbation can get you two years in Texas, but you can buy your way out of jail time through a policy intended to ease overcrowding. Is there anything about our criminal justice system they wouldn't believe?
Cops take to their cameras with #tweetalongs—but is it fair for officers to tweet out pictures of the people they stop?
Only in Texas is there a law to prevent hobbyists from strapping digital cameras to RC helicopters that also allows law enforcement to watch citizens without a warrant.
A dramatic increase in border security over the past six years has made the Sierra Blanca inspection station one of the nation’s toughest. And I oughta know.
Twenty-six years after Michael Morton was sent to prison for a murder he didn’t commit, his wife’s killer was finally brought to justice.
Arrest warrant is issued for former Williamson County district attorney Ken Anderson, the man who prosecuted Michael Morton and helped put him in prison for nearly 25 years for a crime he didn't commit.
Jamie Meltzer, a documentarian, talks about his new film "Freedom Fighters," about a grassroots detective agency started by a group of exonerees in Dallas.
“The big monster with the big mustache” is sentenced to life in prison.
On the third day of Mark Alan Norwood's capital murder trial, an old friend testified that Norwood sold him the .45 that disappeared from Michael Morton's home after his wife, Christine, was murdered in 1986.
DNA testing of a blue bandana exonerated Michael Morton. Could the small square of cloth also be the linchpin that seals Mark Alan Norwood's fate?
Prosecutors say they will prove that Norwood sold a .45 pistol that was stolen from the Morton home.
During my years as a district attorney, I have sought the death penalty. But does the state need to take a life to make a point?
Al Reinert discusses An Unreal Dream, his new film about Morton, who was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and served nearly 25 years in prison for the crime.
In a committee hearing Tuesday, the exoneree and newlywed pushed for a bill that would change the statute of limitations for offenses involving prosecutorial misconduct.
In his biennial address on the state of the judiciary, the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court remembers the Alamo.
UPDATED: A Brownsville construction worker named Manuel Velez was sent to death row in 2008 after he was convicted of killing his girlfriend’s baby. Five years later, new testimony from a number of forensic experts suggests that the medical evidence against Velez was deeply flawed. Now he may receive the
Carl Henry Blue was put to death Thursday for setting an ex-girlfriend on fire.
The story from our March issue about the case of Andre Thomas is the fruit of an exciting collaboration with our pals at the Texas Tribune.
Andre Thomas is deeply mentally ill. He is also a vicious murderer. How should he be punished?
The final day of the court of inquiry into alleged prosecutorial misconduct by former Williamson County D.A. Ken Anderson ended with the man who helped put Michael in prison for 25 years for a crime he didn't commit calling the accusations against him "so bogus it’s unreal.”
This time he was arrested upon arrival at the airport, after allegedly choking flight attendants and making sexual remarks.
More testimony suggested that the former Williamson County D.A. may have withheld evidence that could have proven the innocence of Michael Morton.
John Whitmire is making his third attempt to streamline the appeals process for inmates who may be exonerated by improved forensic techniques.
Michael Morton testifies at the inquiry for the former Williamson County district attorney who sent him to prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Ken Anderson, the former Williamson County D.A. who prosecuted Michael, will essentially go on trial as the subject of a “court of inquiry,” an arcane legal procedure used to investigate possible wrongdoing by state officials.
“You see this bullet right here, I’ll stick it from they rooter to the tooter,” raps Lt. Regina Smith, now suspended.
Jonathan Green was put to death Wednesday for the 2000 murder of a 12-year-old girl, but his lawyers maintained until the end that their client was mentally ill and thus unsuitable for execution.
David Lee Wiggins, 48, had served 23 years in prison for the 1989 rape of a teenage girl when testing revealed DNA evidence did not link him to the crime.
Texas Board of Pardons and Parole granted parole to a full 31 percent of inmates up for review last year, up from 27 percent in 2003.
