January 21, 2013
Texas Executes Seventh Man of 2012
Marvin Wilson, an inmate with an IQ of 61 and the reasoning skills of a grade school student, was the latest to die in the Huntsville death chamber.
Criminal Justice
January 21, 2013
Texas Performs Sixth Execution of 2012
Yokamon Hearn was also the first person in Texas to be executed with the new single-ingredient lethal formula, pentobarbital.
January 21, 2013
Death Penalty Drugs: From Three to One
A shortage of pancuronium bromide forced the state to abandon the three-drug cocktail it has used to execute prisoners since 1982. But another drug has surfaced that will do the job.
January 21, 2013
Texas Prison’s Water Problems Attract National Attention
Gawker got wind that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Connally Unit recently was shut down due to "chronic staff staffing shortages and water outages."
January 21, 2013
Lawsuits Over Prisoner Deaths in Hot Texas Prisons
Last summer, four prisoners died from heat-related causes in Texas's sweltering prisons.
January 21, 2013
New A&M Study Finds “Castle Laws” Escalate Violence
Researchers from Texas A&M found that laws similar to Texas's castle doctrine actually lead to more homicides instead of deterring crime.
January 21, 2013
Overton Judge Finds No New Evidence of Innocence
State district judge Jose Longoria stated that "all of the supposedly newly-discovered evidence ... was clearly known and discussed at the time of trial."
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Why John Bradley Lost
Williamson Country District Attorney John Bradley faced a resounding defeat in a race that became a referendum on his handling of the Michael Morton case.
January 21, 2013
The Problem With Eyewitness Testimony
How badly do we mess up when doing something as fundamentally human as using our eyes, words, and memories? In the case of some eyewitness IDs, very badly.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Judge Wanted to Posthumously Exonerate Cameron Todd Willingham
Former state district judge Charlie Baird shares the 18-page exoneration order that he never got to issue with The Huffington Post.
January 21, 2013
Texas Performs Fifth Execution of 2012
Beunka Adams, who was pronounced dead on Thursday night at 6:25 p.m., participated in a deadly convenience store robbery in 2002.
Report from Court
January 21, 2013
Hannah Overton Hearing: Day Four
David Jones, one of Overton's defense attorneys during her 2007 trial, broke down on the stand.
Report from Court
January 21, 2013
Hannah Overton Hearing: Day Three
Ex-prosecutor Sandra Eastwood is put on the hot seat and questioned about whether or not she withheld critical evidence from the defense.
Report from Court
January 21, 2013
Hannah Overton Hearing: Day Two
The leading salt poisoning expert testified on the second day of Overton's hearing.
Report from Court
January 21, 2013
The Hannah Overton Hearing: Day One
Executive Editor Pamela Colloff reports from Nueces County, where testimony in the Hannah Overton hearing focused on scientific evidence supporting the Corpus Christi homemaker's claims of innocence.
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Graves Case Becomes Election Issue
Anthony Graves, who spent eighteen years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, speaks out as the Washington County sheriff’s race heats up.
January 21, 2013
“Frontline” on Kerry Max Cook
A clip from the PBS show's episode on Kerry Max Cook and his quest for exoneration.
January 21, 2013
Texas Executes Fourth Man of 2012
Jesse Joe Hernandez, who was pronounced dead on Wednesday night at 6:18 p.m., had beaten a 10-month-old baby to death in 2001.
Video
January 21, 2013
WATCH: Michael Morton Gives His First Full Interview to “60 Minutes”
Although Michael Morton was formally exonerated last year of his wife’s murder and released from prison after nearly 25 years behind bars, he has made few public comments until now. On Sunday night, in a 60 Minutes exclusive, he spoke to CBS correspondent Lara Logan about his ordeal.Morton recounted how
January 21, 2013
Michael Morton on ‘60 Minutes’
An interview with Michael Morton, who spent 25 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, will air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes.
January 21, 2013
Anthony Graves Update
48 Hours Mystery updated its "Grave Injustice" episode, which first aired last year, to include information about his exoneration and the compensation he received from the state.
January 21, 2013
Rusty Hardin Named Special Prosecutor in Court of Inquiry
The legendary Houston criminal defense attorney will examine former DA Ken Anderson, who prosecuted Michael Morton. With this appointment, things just got a whole lot more interesting. Here's why.
January 21, 2013
Third Execution of 2012 Slated for Wednesday Night
Texas plans to execute Keith Thurmond Wednesday night for the 2001 murders of his estranged wife and her new boyfriend.
January 21, 2013
Innocence Project
David Hanners, the Dallas Morning News reporter who broke the Kerry Max Cook story in 1988, says the DA's office shifted its stance on the one piece of evidence that could exonerate Cook.
January 21, 2013
The Last Man Exonerated
Kerry Max Cook walked off death row in 1997, but he was never officially exonerated. At least not yet. He just filed a DNA motion he hopes will clear his name.
January 21, 2013
Who Helps the Exonerated Men of Texas?
James Waller, who was exonerated 24 years after he was convicted of a crime he didn't commit, started a non-profit to help support and counsel Texas' exonerees.
Critters
January 21, 2013
Inside San Antonio’s Animal Court
The Wall Street Journal’s Nathan Koppel writes about San Antonio's new court, designed to handle animal cases.
January 21, 2013
Supreme Court Justice Appoints Judge in Court of Inquiry
State supreme court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson appoints Texas legend Judge Louis E. Sturns to oversee the court of inquiry into Williamson County DA Ken Anderson.
January 21, 2013
HPD Crime Lab To Be Revamped?
Houston Mayor Annise Parker suggested making the city's crime lab independent and adding a Innocence Project representative to the board overseeing it.
January 21, 2013
Investigating the Prosecutors
What will state supreme court chief justice Wallace Jefferson do about Ken Anderson, the DA who sent an innocent man to prison? Based on these clues, Anderson is in for the fight of his life.
Recipes
January 21, 2013
The Joy of Cooking (Behind Bars)
Recipes from the innovative chefs at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, including Delightful Tuna Nachos and Frosted Shredded Wheat Surprise.
January 21, 2013
Muslim Prisoner Sues Over Beard Ban in State Prison System
Kenneth Hickman says TDCJ's facial hair ban violates his First Amendment rights.
Behind the Lines
January 21, 2013
Fed Up!
Sure, Texas’s criminal justice system is tough. But as Fort Worth inmate Richard LaFuente could tell you, the federal criminal system is even tougher.
Web Exclusive
January 21, 2013
Another Tale of Wrongful Conviction?
Richard LaFuente, who was convicted of murder in 1986, has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence for more than twenty years. Now he has some unlikely support in one person—the victim's own sister.
Editor's Letter
January 21, 2013
The Scales of Injustice
About a year ago, it was reported that Randall Dale Adams had died, bringing to a close one of the more tragic stories in recent Texas history. A construction worker from Ohio, Adams (pictured here, in 1989) was convicted and sentenced to die in 1977 for the murder of Dallas
Letter From Corpus Christi
January 21, 2013
Hannah’s Prayer
Five years ago, Hannah Overton, a church-going Corpus Christi mother of five, was convicted of murdering her soon-to-be adoptive child and sentenced to life in prison. In April, she returned to court—and watched her lawyers put the prosecution on defense.
Feature
January 21, 2013
Trials and Errors
Over the past two decades Texas has exonerated more than eighty wrongfully convicted prisoners. How does this happen? Can anything be done to stop it? We assembled a group of experts (a police chief, a state senator, a judge, a prosecutor, a district attorney, and an exoneree) to find out.
Web Exclusive
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Pamela Colloff
The executive editor on writing about wrongful conviction cases, interviewing Hannah Overton in prison, and recognizing that things may not be as they seem.
True Crime
January 21, 2013
“If the Serial Killer Gets Us, He Gets Us”
Police had all but given up looking into a pair of assaults against two prostitutes in the Houston neighborhood of Acres Homes. But when a third turned up dead, investigator Darcus Shorten embarked on a search that revealed a brutal reality.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Lawsuit from Hell
How an East Texas attorney spawned the most massive products-liability case ever—one that has cost millions of dollars and involved thousands of plaintiffs and might never end.
True Crime
January 20, 2013
Innocence Found
Anthony Graves had been behind bars for eighteen years when the prosecutors in his case abruptly dropped all charges and set him free. How did it happen? What happens next?
Behind the Lines
January 20, 2013
Life After Death
It’s time to halt executions in Texas.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Exonerated
Thirty-seven men, 525 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. Thanks to DNA testing, their claims of innocence have finally been proved—but what happens to them now?
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Separated At Death
Ernest Willis spent seventeen years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. And he has a few things to say about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for a strangely similar crime that many experts believe he didn’t commit either.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
TRANSCRIPT: “Very Few People Get off of Texas Death Row Alive”
Michael Hall’s exclusive interview with Ernest Willis.
January 20, 2013
Searching for Truth
Pamela Colloff talks about reporting on an eighteen-year-old murder case and interviewing Anthony Graves, who was sent to death row for the crime.
Editor's Letter
January 20, 2013
Tenacious P
If it’s something you’d just as soon not think about, chances are Pamela Colloff has written about it for TEXAS MONTHLY. Here is a partial list of the subjects she’s covered since coming to work at the magazine thirteen years ago: murder, arson, abortion, heroin addiction, hate crimes, illegal immigration,
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
A New Lease On Life
Freedom for Earnest Willis?
True Crime
January 20, 2013
The Man Who Knows Everything
Clyde Wilson is more than a private investigator. He’s the historian of Houston’s dark side—and that makes him the most dangerous man in town.
True Crime
January 20, 2013
The Beating of Billy Ray Johnson
The short, slight, mentally disabled black man was found on the side of a road in Linden, huddled in a fetal position. He was bloody and unconscious—the victim of a violent crime. But another tragedy was how residents of the East Texas town reacted.