Author: Broden & Mickelsen, LLP
Professional football players are no strangers to run-ins with the law. In the latest case to hit the headlines, Damien Wilson of the Dallas Cowboys was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon. The linebacker was arrested on two counts aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly backed his truck into…

Another fatal shooting of a police officer in San Antonio has highlighted violence against law enforcement officers in Texas. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state flags to be lowered to half-staff in San Antonio to honor Officer Miguel Moreno. He was killed in a shoot-out last Thursday and died a day later. Moreno…

Violent crime has been rising in many American cities over the last few years and Texas is no exception. Recent figures for Fort Worth found crime increased by 14 percent and murders were up 69 percent year-on-year. A report on Channel 5 compared crime figures in the first three months of 2017 with those in…

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…

Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and current U.S. Energy Secretary, has endorsed two proposed criminal justice reforms currently in the Texas legislature that would help people who have been charged or convicted of crimes. Writing in the Houston Chronicle, Perry touted reforms that took place during his tenure as governor that helped reduce Texas’…

Legislators are seeking tougher measures to combat sexual assault on Texas college campuses, but there is a lack of consensus about how to proceed. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, submitted Senate Bill 576. The legislation would require school employees and student leaders to “promptly” report instances of sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking or family violence…

The announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that he will end an independent panel set up to raise scientific standards in forensics, has provoked a backlash. Sessions announced this month that he has suspended a Justice Department review of widespread flaws in FBI forensic expert court testimony. The announcement comes on the back of…

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,…