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Panetti Lawyers Want His Competence Evaluated
Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti's legal team will ask the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday afternoon to return his case to a federal district court, appoint counsel and order support so...
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Dip in Prison Population Continues Trend
Prison populations in Texas — and the rest of the country— dropped slightly last year.Counting all prisoners under the legal authority of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state's prison...
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Texas Prisons Deny Making Execution Drugs
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Friday shot down allegations that it is manufacturing its own hard-to-find execution drugs after federal defense attorneys in an Oklahoma death row case...
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Death Row Inmate Claims Witnesses Coerced
Attorneys for East Texas inmate Julius Jerome Murphy, scheduled for execution in early November for killing a stranded motorist, claimed in court papers filed Friday that prosecutors threatened and...
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Cornyn: Mental Health Legislation Provides New Tools
When it comes to loved ones with mental health problems, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says, families have traditionally faced two troublesome options: do nothing or institutionalize their relatives.And as a...
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Texas Appeals Court Stays Julius Murphy Execution
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday stayed the execution of Julius Murphy, 36, which was set for Nov. 3, after his legal team presented claims of prosecutorial misconduct in his 1998 Bowie...
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Texas Poised to See a New Low in Death Sentences
Texas is on track to see fewer death sentences handed down in 2015 than in any other year since the state’s death penalty was reinstated in 1976.In the past two weeks, two new inmates arrived on Texas’...
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"Bernie" Back in Court Tuesday for Murder
Convicted murderer Bernhardt Tiede II, better known as Bernie to those who saw the eponymous film that helped win his freedom, returns to an East Texas courtroom Tuesday fighting the state's efforts to...
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Judge Moves "Bernie" Trial to Neighboring County
Convicted murderer Bernie Tiede's new sentencing trial will be moved from Carthage — where he killed 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent nearly two decades ago — to Henderson, in a neighboring East Texas...
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Commission Begins Study of Wrongful Convictions
Richard Miles was 19 years old when Dallas police officers picked him up, placed him in the back of a squad car and drove him to the scene of a shooting, where an eyewitness identified him as the man...
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2015 Tribune Festival: Audio From the Justice Track
The Justice track at the 2015 Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions on criminal justice reform, the Legislature, open carry, and gay rights and states' rights. There was also a conversation...
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Straus Forms Select Committee on Mental Health
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus announced Monday he's formed a select committee on mental health to take an all-encompassing look at the state's behavioral health system.The committee will review and...
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Report: Veteran Mental Health Ignored in Capital Cases
Veterans sentenced to death in Texas murder cases — and nationwide — might have escaped the punishment if juries had been told about their military service and any ensuing mental health problems,...
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New Statewide Jail Form Aimed at Suicide Risks
In the wake of the hanging death of Sandra Bland and other recent suicides, the state agency that oversees jails is issuing a new inmate intake form so jailers will ask more specific, direct questions...
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Black Lives Matter Searches for Its Next Step
Anger, fear, suspicion and hope hung in the air as about 30 black men and women — young, old, LGBT, immigrant — met last week in a small room at an East Austin Baptist church.Amid tears and shouts,...
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Report Recommends Police Reform Mental Health Policies
Holding up San Antonio as an example, a report by a justice system policy group recommends that law enforcement agencies change their practices regarding mental illness, sex workers and addiction...
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Lawyers Fight For, and Over, Death Row Inmate
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.Two sets of attorneys who believe their client doesn't belong on death row are fighting not only the state of Texas but also each other as his case...
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High Court: Texas Death Row Inmate Can't Add Another Lawyer
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson III's petition to add another attorney to his court-appointed team.Roberson has one more shot at delaying his execution...
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Teacher in Maximum-Security Prison Almost Missed Her Calling
ABILENE – Jody Addy walks through a metal detector, waits for a pat down, shows her ID and passes through locked gates before walking into her classroom, which is in the middle of a maximum-security...
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New Death Sentences in Texas Drop To 40-Year Low
Texas juries imposed only two new death sentences in 2015, the fewest since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide almost 40 years ago, according to a national report released Wednesday.Just 49...
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