Author: Mick Mickelsen
As everyone with a passing interest in politics now knows, a special prosecutor in Texas has charged Governor Rick Perry with two felony charges. Those charges are “abuse of official capacity” and “coercion of a public servant.” Because those are not everyday criminal charges like burglary or assault, it is worth taking a look at…
It’s not every day that charges of pointing a laser at an aircraft are brought but the offense is more common in Texas than many people believe. Recently the Dallas Morning News reported on how 24-year-old Steven Alexander Chavez Jr. was arrested by federal authorities in Lubbock and charged with one count of aiming a…
Few crimes shock society more than the killing of a child. We were saddened to read about how police in Dallas found the body of a 5-year-old girl at an apartment complex on Sunday. Dallas police were called to look for Kathrine Alejandra Gonzalez about 11:30 a.m. at the Sontera Palms apartments in the 9500…
In high profile cases it’s not uncommon for the authorities to put together a case on the flimsiest of evidence. Take the recent case of David Barajas who was recently acquitted of shooting a man who killed his young sons in a drunken-driving accident. There’s no question that Barajas had a strong motive in the…
DNA technology allows investigators to match up evidence of old crimes as well as contemporary ones. Recently the Dallas Morning News reported on how investigators say a state prisoner has admitted to raping two women at gunpoint during a robbery in 2005. The prisoner in question is William Thomas Beane, a 36-year-old who is currently…
When a crime is judged to be motivated by factors such as race or sexual orientation, it may be dealt with by federal prosecutors as a hate crime. Under federal law the hate crime legislation may be used in offenses linked to actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin or perceived religion, national…
Drug and alcohol problems are widespread among professional football players who face huge pressures on an almost daily basis. An example is former Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent who last week asked a Dallas County judge to let him serve the rest of a jail sentence in a treatment facility. The former defensive tackle was convicted…
It may sound like an uncontroversial measure but enforcement of Dallas’ bike helmet law has become a contentious issue following evidence that police are unevenly enforcing the ordinance. An article in the Dallas Morning News stated the bike helmet ordinance is not being enforced at White Rock Lake, in Lakewood, along the Katy Trail and…
Elliot Rodger’s name is the latest to enter the infamous roll of America’s mass shooters. Rodger, 22, was responsible for a killing spree at the University of California in Santa Barbara on May 23, 2014 that left seven dead including the shooter himself. A further 13 people were injured, some of them seriously. He is…
Sex offenses can cause outrage in the community and often attract heavy sentences. Recently, the Dallas Morning News reported on how a man from Fort Worth man was sentenced to 43 years in prison without parole for molesting two girls. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office said in a news release that a jury had…