Author: Broden & Mickelsen, LLP
The arrest of an alleged domestic abuse victim in Texas by immigration agents has led to a warning victims of crimes may not come forward if they are undocumented. The arrest came as the Trump administration steps up a crackdown on undocumented immigrants with criminal records across the country. The arrest of a woman who…
Groping would become a more serious offense in Texas if a new bill filed in the General Assembly becomes law. The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault is behind new bill that would make groping a Class A misdemeanor, reported CBS. At present, the offense is a Class C misdemeanor. Critics say that makes it the…
The death of an African American woman in a Texas police cell in 2015 has paved the way for a new bill in the state legislature that would change police procedure. Lawmakers have made 14 recommendations that could form the basis of the Sandra Bland Act, reported the Texas Tribune. The recommendations were drawn up…
Human trafficking is taken very seriously in Texas, a state that experiences a large amount of trafficking due to its long border with Mexico. Recently, a man from Dallas who was accused of pimping out a teenage runaway was jailed in New Braunfels after a traffic stop resulted in his arrest. A report in the…
The threat of terrorism has been elevated in Texas due to recent activities of groups like ISIS, a new document by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) reveals. The department released the 2017 Texas Public Safety Threat Overview. The document contains a comprehensive assessment of the current public safety threats to the state. The…
Many factors lead to wrongful arrests. Forensic evidence could be flawed, a witness may have identified the wrong suspect or sometimes pressure from interrogators leads to a false confession. In Alameda County, California, a new and alarming problem has arisen. Case management software that was installed last year is being blamed on scores of wrongful…
It’s no coincidence that many of the most lurid national headlines about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students are from Texas. In 2016, Texas saw a boom in prosecutions for these types of relationships, the Houston Chronicle reported. The trend has led to the drawing up of stricter rules and a call for new legislation…
Texas is the next state to look at a controversial “bathroom bill,” – a measure that ran into trouble when it was introduced in North Carolina. The state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is proposing a bill that will prevent transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice, reported The Guardian. A similar bill was…
The case of Miguel Navarro, a Hispanic teenager, who was sentenced to 99-years in an adult prison before he could drive or reach high school, has highlighted Texas’ controversial juvenile justice system. Navarro was just 15 in 2007, when he stabbed a 20-year-old during a fight in Katy, Texas. A Houston Public Media report pointed…
Bite mark evidence as a forensic science technique used at crime scenes has been under fire for some time. Now a new paper has urged law enforcement agencies to discontinue its use. The paper in Journal of Law and the Biosciences outlines the legal basis for the rise of the bite-mark identification technique and its…