Category: News
Evading arrest or detention in a motor vehicle in Texas can be a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances of the crime. These crimes are often associated with police pursuits but you don’t have to be involved in a long chase to be charged with the crime. Over the weekend, a woman was…
Children in Texas cannot consent to sex, but they can still be charged with prostitution after state Governor Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would have prevented them from being arrested and brought before juvenile courts. Abbott vetoed House Bill 1771. The legislation, authored by Houston Democrat Shawn Thierry, aimed to amend the Texas penal…
Texas is no stranger to hate crimes that target minorities. In recent months, the Dallas community has been shocked by a series of deadly attacks on transgender women. In May, hundreds of people from the LGBTQ+ community attended the funeral of Muhlaysia Booker, a 22-year-old transgender woman who was shot and killed. Her body was…
Asset forfeiture, the process in which police seize the goods of suspected criminals, is happening on a massive scale in Texas. Even when suspects are cleared, they often still lose their cars, cash, and other goods to police, a new investigation has found. The Texas Tribune looked at 560 asset forfeiture cases in 2016, which…
A bipartisan effort to change the law to allow judges in Texas to dismiss low-level crimes when police officers fail to explain why they arrested a suspect has died. The Texas Tribune reported a committee of Texas lawmakers from both chambers killed a measure in late May that would have let judges dismiss low-level crimes…
Voter fraud has been a major issue in Texas in recent years amid high-profile prosecutions of people who voted when they were ineligible. However, claims that as many as 95,000 Texans were committing voter fraud unraveled in February. David Whitley, the Acting Secretary of State of Texas, came under fire for a report that questioned…
If a judgment is ordered against you in a criminal trial, an appeal is likely your last chance to avoid a permanent conviction. Here’s what to expect after you win a criminal appeal. The criminal trial process can be emotionally and financially draining for a defendant. In many cases, the time from indictment until a…
The number of women held in Texas prisons is getting larger year on year and conditions are getting worse. This grim conclusion was reached in a report published last year by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. Now lawmakers on the House Committee on Corrections are studying conditions and treatment options for women imprisoned in Texas….
Texas set up a new jail system a quarter of a century ago intended to keep low-level drug offenders out of the state’s overcrowded prisons. Lawmakers sought to give inmates convicted of non-violent drug offenses less time behind bars than in state prisons. Instead, they would receive rehabilitative services on probation and be supervised to…
It’s rare for a child as young as 12 to be charged with a serious offense but in Texas, a boy is facing a possible sentence of 40 years in prison over the fatal shooting of a boxer. The 12-year-old was charged with capital murder over the shooting death of a 24-year-old professional boxer in…