Walmart gunman won’t face the death penalty, family says
The removal of the death penalty as an option could lead to a quick guilty plea and life sentence, as happened with federal charges in 2023. Full Story
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![Guests visit the memorial on the third anniversary of the Walmart mass shooting that left 23 dead, at the El Paso County Healing Garden on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Olvidados en la cárcel sin abogado: Así le falla un pueblo de Texas a los acusados pobres
En el condado de Maverick, las autoridades pueden tardar meses en informar a los fiscales de una detención, mientras los acusados esperan en la cárcel. Rara vez se asignan abogados a quien los solicita. Full Story
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![Eagle Pass limita con la cuidad mexicana de Piedras Negras. Muchas personas que viven en Piedras Negras cruzan a diario para trabajar, ir de compras o visitar a sus familiares.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman para The New York Times -
Forgotten in jail without a lawyer: how a Texas town fails poor defendants
People in Maverick County spend months in jail waiting to be charged with minor crimes. Some are simply lost in the system Full Story
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![EAGLE PASS, TEXAS - January 6, 2025: The city of Eagle Pass, Texas with Piedras Negras in the background. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times -
Texas prison staff falsified temperatures records, investigation finds
Two-thirds of the state’s roughly 100 jails and prisons in Texas are not fully air conditioned in inmate housing areas. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Two men convicted in the smuggling deaths of 53 immigrants in San Antonio
The 2022 tragedy was the nation’s deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Story
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![A sign sits on display at a makeshift memorial on Thursday, June 30, 2022 outside San Antonio, TX. Community members paid their respects to the 53 people who died after being left in a truck trailer in a human smuggling operation. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers push harsher criminal penalties
Proposed legislation includes increased penalties for retail theft, car burglaries and forgery, among others. Full Story
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![Inmates are monitored at a security station at the Harris County Detention Center on April 16, 2024, in Houston.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Stay granted for Texas death row inmate two days before scheduled execution
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not clarify why it halted the execution of David Wood in its order granting the stay. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Federal appeals court reverses Texas death row inmate’s conviction
Brittany Marlowe Holberg was convicted in 1998 of robbing and murdering an 80-year-old man in his Amarillo home. The appeals court said critical evidence was withheld. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Following Trump’s lead, Gov. Abbott pushes state agencies to end telework
The directive comes as some state agencies have downsized their office spaces after the pandemic forced many employees to work remotely. Full Story
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![The state capitol seen from the Sam Houston State Office Building in Austin on June 20, 2023.]()
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Texas lawmakers scold juvenile justice department over scathing DOJ report
Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu criticized the department for treating an August 2024 federal report as “nothing.” Full Story
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![Giddings State School, a Texas Juvenile Justice Department correctional facility, in Lee County on July 20, 2022.]()
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A shortage of criminal defense attorneys threatens indigent right to counsel in rural Texas
Texas’ indigent defense commission wants lawmakers to spend $35 million on public defender offices in rural areas, but some say that isn’t nearly enough to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution. Full Story
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![Scene from bond review docket in the Travis County courthouse in July.]()
Credit: Trevor Paulhus for The Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly -
More than 100 arrested in Colony Ridge immigration raids, ICE says
The development outside of Houston has long drawn the ire of Texas Republicans who claim it’s a haven for undocumented people. Full Story
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![Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's "border czar" appointee, at a Thanksgiving dinner event for Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard troops in Edinburg on Nov. 26, 2024.]()
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U.S. Supreme Court hears Texas death row inmate’s appeal for DNA test of evidence
Ruben Gutierrez wants to be able to sue prosecutors to compel them to test evidence that he says will prove he did not kill a Brownsville woman in 1998. Full Story
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![The Supreme Court building in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Feds target “criminals and illegal immigrants” in Houston-area development, Abbott says
The Colony Ridge development has long been under scrutiny from conservative lawmakers, think tanks and influencers who cast it as a hotbed for undocumented immigrants and cartel crime. Full Story
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![An overhead view of the Colony Ridge development in New Caney on Oct. 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
South Texas bakery owners housed undocumented workers next to business before ICE raid, feds allege in hearing
Before federal agents arrested them, the couple who runs the bakery in Los Fresnos said they “knew this would happen one day,” a federal agent testified at court hearing. Full Story
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![A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge.]()
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ICE arrests South Texas bakery owners accused of hiring undocumented workers
Federal immigration agents raided the Los Fresnos bakery and detained eight workers before filing charges against the two owners. Full Story
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![Abby's Bakery in Los Fresnos.]()
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Texas Senate votes in favor of proposals to deny bail to certain accused violent criminals
The package was fast-tracked after Gov. Greg Abbott declared “bail reform” an emergency item. The bills now head to the House for consideration. Full Story
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![A Bail Bonds and Free-Me Bail in San Marcos.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Robert Roberson files first new appeal since his execution was delayed
The appeal includes new testimony from experts who say Roberson’s daughter died of natural causes, and cites the court’s exoneration of a man in another shaken baby syndrome case out of Dallas County. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at TDCJ Polunsky Unit in Livingston on Dec. 19, 2023. Texas death row prisoners are housed in Livingston but executed at the state prison in Huntsville, about 43 miles away.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Project -
Domestic violence is up in Texas. Survivors and supporters hope lawmakers will take action.
Reported domestic violence incidents have risen 26% since 2019. Full Story
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![The East Texas Crisis Center, on Wednesday January 8, 2025, in Tyler.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes inmate who killed two men in Killeen in 2004
In his final statement, Richard Tabler asked for forgiveness from his victims’ family members, some of whom reportedly witnessed his death. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune