Day: September 11, 2014
Just as cell phones and smart phones have become a way of life in recent years, it has become routine for police to seek to recover information from the devices as part of their investigations. However, a recent U.S. Supreme Court has drawn a line in the sand on use of information from these devices…
Texas hit the headlines last week for one of the worst crimes seen in the Lone Star State for some time. A 33-year-old man stands accused of killing six members of his former wife’s family, including four children in a home in suburban Houston. Reuters reported on an appearance in court by 33-year-old Ronald Lee…
Murder for hire cases can be difficult to prosecute as demonstrated by a recent case in Texas in which the Collin County District Attorney’s Office dismissed a felony charge against man from Garland who was accused last year in a murder for hire plot in Allen. The Dallas Morning News reported that Robert Wayne Bass,…
The Texas criminal justice system makes many firsts and few of them are for enviable reasons. Last week a 57-year-old Texas man who spent 12 years in prison for rape, was exonerated in a case that legal experts said marked the first time in which someone has been cleared of a crime by DNA testing…
GPS tracking devices were used in stolen phones to track down two robbery suspects in Dallas, according to media reports. The Dallas Morning News reported a robbery at an AT&T store in the 8500 block of Abrams Road, when police are said to have tracked the suspects and apprehended a car. The suspects were accused…
Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, has become the latest state governor to face criminal charges after an indictment was brought against him alleging an abuse of power. Perry has dismissed the indictment as a “farce.” He faces two counts of abuse of power and coercion over a funding veto he imposed last year, which…
As everyone with a passing interest in politics now knows, a special prosecutor in Texas has charged Governor Rick Perry with two felony charges. Those charges are “abuse of official capacity” and “coercion of a public servant.” Because those are not everyday criminal charges like burglary or assault, it is worth taking a look at…
It’s not every day that charges of pointing a laser at an aircraft are brought but the offense is more common in Texas than many people believe. Recently the Dallas Morning News reported on how 24-year-old Steven Alexander Chavez Jr. was arrested by federal authorities in Lubbock and charged with one count of aiming a…
Few crimes shock society more than the killing of a child. We were saddened to read about how police in Dallas found the body of a 5-year-old girl at an apartment complex on Sunday. Dallas police were called to look for Kathrine Alejandra Gonzalez about 11:30 a.m. at the Sontera Palms apartments in the 9500…
In high profile cases it’s not uncommon for the authorities to put together a case on the flimsiest of evidence. Take the recent case of David Barajas who was recently acquitted of shooting a man who killed his young sons in a drunken-driving accident. There’s no question that Barajas had a strong motive in the…