In early 2011 then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott moved to bring down the hammer on Midland Funding, one of the country’s more rapacious debt-collection outfits. Every year the company would buy billions of dollars in debt from banks and credit card companies for pennies on the dollar (in 2010 those…
All that separates Texas and mandatory in-person visits for most of the state’s county jail inmates is Governor Greg Abbott’s signature. Working through the Memorial Day weekend, the Texas Senate approved a bill requiring county jails in the state to offer inmates at least two 20-minute, in-person visitation opportunities a…
Jonathan Paul died in March, his family says, because officers at Arlington City Jail put him in a chokehold and then failed to act when Paul could no longer breathe. Paul was picked up by Arlington police for outstanding warrants after he created a disturbance at his home in an…
We’re trying. That’s the gist of a letter sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch regarding Texas’ compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) last week. “I cannot yet certify that the state is in full compliance with Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”),…
At the end of April, Josh Gravens was testifying in Austin, lobbying to support legislation affecting the criminal justice world. One week later, Gravens was back home in Dallas, in the Frank Crowley criminal courthouse, facing his own criminal charges that may put him away for up to 25 years…
Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw does not have a sense of whimsy. Emails obtained by an attorney representing a state trooper reprimanded for taking a photo with Snoop Dogg at South by Southwest show that McCraw was both hellbent on finding the trooper and has a really…
Amid what’s been a massive bummer of a Texas legislative session, the search for silver linings has been difficult. Over the past week, though, a solid contender has developed: the chance for meaningful criminal justice reform. Specifically, a pair of efforts that would make it easier for ex-offenders to secure…
A Deep Ellum beat cop, backed by his community and fellow officers but fired by the Dallas Police Department, will not face criminal charges after an arrest of an aggressive panhandler resulted in a claim he used excessive force. See also: Fired Deep Ellum Cop Jesus Martinez Gets Outpouring of…
The problem, as we wrote the day after Dallas’ new plastic bag ordinance went into effect, is that the ordinance doesn’t ban bags, and now the city of Dallas could pay for it. A group of single-use plastic bag manufacturers has sued the city, claiming that the Dwaine Caraway-shepherded bag…
Jerry Jones, it seems, is headed back to court. The Cowboys owner, who in the last year has successfully fought suits claiming that he sexually assaulted a woman and defrauded ticket buyers at Super Bowl XLV who ended up without seats, is accused this time of failing to properly maintain…
While Congregation Toras Chaim fights the city of Dallas for the right to operate out of a Far North Dallas house — and thus to continue existing — another peculiar legal tussle over the rites of Orthodox Judaism is playing out directly across the street. Last October, the residents of…
Nina Pham does not deserve to go forward with her lawsuit against Texas Health Resources, the parent company of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the company says. Pham became the first person to contract the Ebola virus in the United States last fall during her treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan, a…
One night in August 2011, a half dozen cows escaped their pasture and wandered onto a semi-rural stretch of road in Amarillo. The driver of an approaching pickup slamed on the brakes, but not quite soon enough to keep the truck from entering a terrifying barrel roll. Bobby Tunnell, the…
The presumption that court proceedings should be open to the public has been a feature of the American judiciary since around the time Englishmen in funny hats stepped off the Mayflower. It’s not directly addressed in the U.S. Constitution but it is enshrined in the founding documents of many states,…
Troy Causey, the Wilmer-Hutchins basketball player beaten to death outside his home one year ago today, should never have been in the situation that led to his death, his mother says. Causey was improperly recruited to play basketball at Wilmer-Hutchins while he was in the custody of the Dallas County…
On paper, the seven plaintiffs suing the NFL for their experiences at 2011’s Jerryworld-hosted Super Bowl won. A Dallas jury agreed with the group — and the NFL — that the leagued breached its contract with the fans when they were either denied seats or switched to different seats at…
In what’s turning out to be a stellar week for tolerance in Dallas, the rabbi of Congregation Toras Chaim, the embattled Orthodox Jewish congregation that meets in a Far North Dallas home, says someone painted a swastika on his car sometime Wednesday. “I feel completely violated. As a Jew, the…
Heading into deliberations, the questions facing the jury in the 2011 Super Bowl seating fiasco trial were pretty simple. The NFL — accused of breach of contract and fraudulent inducement after the plaintiff fans were either relocated or denied seats entirely at the game — has admitted to the breach…
This all could have been avoided, Jerry Jones said, if he’d just gotten his way. As part of an attempt to break the Super Bowl attendance record — set in 1980 when 103,985 fans watched the Steelers beat the Rams in the Rose Bowl — 13,000 temporary seats were added…
Dallas Police officer Amy Wilburn shot Kelvion Walker — that much is beyond dispute. Believing he was armed and a carjacking suspect, Wilburn rushed the car Walker was sitting in. Despite, according to witnesses, Walker’s hands being up, Wilburn drew her weapon and hit him in the stomach. DPD brass…
A federal magistrate judge has ruled that Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price is, in fact, indigent enough that taxpayers should pay for a sizable portion of his defense, as faces federal corruption charges for allegedly taking almost $1 million in bribes. Earlier today, Price filed the requested financial disclosure…
Organizers of a petition drive to stop Plano’s new anti-discrimination ordinance misled supporters, failed to properly verify signatures and didn’t follow Plano requirements for petition drives, the city says. See also: What Do Plano Christians Have Against Veterans?…
