Category: News
Texas has a reputation for being a tough state for law and order with heavy sentences handed down to offenders. However, the Lone Star State’s initiatives to find alternatives to prison are helping drive forward a national reform bill. When the White House recently backed a bipartisan effort to cut the federal prison population and…
Texas is still clearing more people than the rest of the country after miscarriages of justice, but the state’s exoneration rate is falling. For years, issues with a backlog of drug cases in Harris County meant Texas led the nation in exonerations. In 2017, the Lone Star State recorded 23 exonerations, reported the Texas Tribune….
The execution of a man accused of killing a store worker during a robbery at a Fort Worth gas station in 2010 has been delayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after his attorneys argued he is mentally ill. The execution of 42-year-old Kwame Rockwell was set for Oct. 24. Rockwell and two other…
The crime of drug trafficking is becoming increasingly sophisticated, a fact illustrated by the recent sentencing of a French dealer en route to Texas who set up an elaborate online trafficking scheme on the dark web. French international drug dealer Gal Vallerius was recently sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for drug trafficking. He…
If you have received a subpoena, it’s normal to have a lot of questions. You might even feel nervous or upset. After all, it can be frightening to receive an official document from the justice system that has your name on it. Are you in trouble? Will you go to jail over this? First, it’s…
Texas saw a rise in crime in 2017 as the number of police officers fell in the state, according to FBI data released in September. Crime has been creeping up in the Lone Star State for two consecutive years. The FBI’s annual compilation of crime statistics revealed there were 1.5 officers per 1,000 population in…
In a May 2018 decision, Collins v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court held in an 8-1 decision that a police officer couldn’t venture into a private home’s “curtilage” for the purpose of conducting a warrantless search of a vehicle. The Definition of Curtilage Curtilage is one of those legal terms you might hear and…
Voter fraud is a controversial offense, nowhere more so than in Texas, which has seen several high profile cases. Crystal Mason, a woman who tried to cast a ballot as a felon, was sentenced to five years in prison in late September. Mason, 43, attempted to vote in the 2016 election. Although she used her…
Once someone has been convicted of a crime by a judge or jury, his or her case moves on to the sentencing stage. In the event an individual accepts a plea bargain, they will also go through the sentencing process. An individual is also sentenced if they take a plea bargain from the prosecutor. Most…
Before the internet, it was much easier for people to lose contact or drift apart. After a bad break up, you might move away and never have to worry about bumping into an old ex. Now that social media and smartphones are everywhere, however, keeping your distance is much harder than it used to be…