Author: Broden & Mickelsen, LLP
A Texas state representative made headlines this month when she was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Dallas was arrested last week and charged with DWI, reported the Texas Tribune. The report said Neave was booked at the Dallas County Jail at 3:30 a.m. Four hours earlier, police received a call about a…
Dallas police chiefs have been accused in the past of downplaying the extent of gang activity in the city. However, the interim Police Chief David Pughes appears to have broken ranks by publicly acknowledging that gang activity is driving up violent crime in the city, reported WFAA. Violent crime is up just over four percent…
A Texas man who was convicted of the murder of a Putt-Putt golf course assistant manager has been granted a stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Paul Storey, 32, was convicted in 2008 for the murder of Jonas Cherry. He was scheduled to die this month, but concerns that defense attorneys…
The number of exonerations in the United States rose again in 2016. Many of the wrongful convictions were in Texas and more than half of them were related to cases in which no crime was committed. The annual report from the National Registry of Exonerations found the number of exonerations rose to 166 last year,…
The scope of hate crimes in Texas will expand if a bill to make all attacks on first responders hate crimes becomes law. The bill introduced in the Texas legislature would increase penalties for attacks against any first responder, including police, firefighters and EMTs, and make them hate crimes. Texas governor Greg Abbott spoke in…
An expanding investigation and allegations of a cover up of alleged sexual assaults at Baylor University in Texas have led to calls for Governor Greg Abbott to direct the Texas Rangers to investigate. Last week, Rep. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) filed a bill in the Texas House of Representatives urging the governor to get the…
Groping would become a more serious offense in Texas if a new bill filed in the General Assembly becomes law. The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault is behind new bill that would make groping a Class A misdemeanor, reported CBS. At present, the offense is a Class C misdemeanor. Critics say that makes it the…
Human trafficking is taken very seriously in Texas, a state that experiences a large amount of trafficking due to its long border with Mexico. Recently, a man from Dallas who was accused of pimping out a teenage runaway was jailed in New Braunfels after a traffic stop resulted in his arrest. A report in the…
It’s no coincidence that many of the most lurid national headlines about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students are from Texas. In 2016, Texas saw a boom in prosecutions for these types of relationships, the Houston Chronicle reported. The trend has led to the drawing up of stricter rules and a call for new legislation…
Texas is the next state to look at a controversial “bathroom bill,” – a measure that ran into trouble when it was introduced in North Carolina. The state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is proposing a bill that will prevent transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice, reported The Guardian. A similar bill was…