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White collar crimes aren’t always associated with long prison sentences which are traditionally reserved for violent crimes such as rape or murder. But increasingly prosecutors are using federal sentencing guidelines to put more non-violent offenders behind bars for long periods, Forbes magazine reported in a recent feature. The article looked at the conviction of Christian…
Domestic violence has been in the news recently after Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings announced he is hosting an anti-domestic violence rally tomorrow. It’s part of a wider campaign that is targeting men, according to the Dallas Morning News. Rawlings expects 10,000 men to join him at City Hall on March 23, the newspaper reported. Those…
The disturbing case of Andre Thomas has again raised the question of how just how insane a defendant has to be in Texas to avoid the death penalty. Thomas gouged out both of his own eyes in jail. He brutally murdered his estranged wife along with their young son and her 13-month-old daughter. According to…
If you are accused of a crime in Texas, your chances of a fair trial will vary depending on the openness of the jurisdiction you are being tried in. That’s the conclusion of a new report which found the amount of evidence that can be obtained from prosecutors varies widely across the state. The report…
Cold case investigations tend to make for good TV shows. Although in many of these shows the police relentlessly hunt down criminals who have gone undetected for decades, the reality can be very different. The Dallas Morning News recently wrote about the torture endured by a family over the killing of Camille Norman that took…
Texas has a bad record for wrongful convictions with more than 100 coming to light in recent years. And the revelations keep coming. This week in Corsicana a 58-year-old Texas man walked free from jail after serving almost 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Back in 1984 Randolph Arledge was sentenced to 99…
Given its closeness to the Mexican border, it’s hardly surprising Texas is on the front line for drug trafficking offenses. This was again illustrated in the latest big operation when more than $1.7 million in money was seized as part of the dismantling of a huge marijuana trafficking ring, U.S. Attorney Malcolm Bales said this…
Few of the thousands of DWI cases seen in Texas every year make headlines. But when you are a celebrity, it’s a different story. Randy Travis pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated on January 31, 2013 in a case from last summer when the naked country music star crashed his Pontiac Trans Am. The 53-year-old…
In northern Texas a judge has declined to dismiss a capital murder charge against a 17-year-old who is accused of killing his mother and sister even though it’s at odds with an important U.S. Supreme Court decision. Given the key ruling by the nation’s highest court, it’s not surprising that attorneys for Jacob Ryan Evans…
Numerous wrongful convictions have come to light in Texas over recent years but few are more stark than that of Michael Morton. In November, 2011, a grand jury in Travis County, Texas, indicted Mark Norwood on capital murder charges related to the killing of Debra Baker in 1988. Norwood is also awaiting trial on murder…