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Attorney General's Office

The latest Attorney General's Office news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Case Open: The Investigation

    By Brandi Grissom

    It took a crew of eight Northwestern University students to bring national attention to questions about Hank Skinner's death sentence. But his legal pleas for more DNA testing of crime scene evidence — and his lawsuit against the Gray County district attorney — have gone nowhere. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, he'll be executed on Feburary 24. Full Story 

  • Case Open

    By Brandi Grissom

    Hank Skinner is set to be executed for a 1993 murder he's always maintained he didn't commit. He wants the state to test whether his DNA matches evidence found at the scene, but prosecutors say the time to contest his conviction has come and gone. He has less than a month to change their minds. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant MIller

  • Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Open Government

    By Wanda Garner Cash

    Compared with other states, Texas alternates between merely OK and downright bad in rankings of how transparently government bodies conduct open meetings and respond to requests for public information. But we can fix that. Full Story 

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  • Abuse of Power

    By Emily Ramshaw

    State employees who commit heinous acts against Texas' most profoundly disabled citizens rarely get charged with crimes, let alone go to jail. A Texas Tribune review of a decade’s worth of abuse and neglect firings at state institutions found that just 16 percent of the most violent or negligent employees were ever charged with crimes. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • TribBlog: AG Says Posthumous Pardons Possible

    By Elise Hu

    A posthumous pardon is possible after all, according to an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott's office. This clears the way for the possible post-death pardon of Tim Cole, who was exonerated of a sexual assault conviction in a Travis County court last year, but had died in prison many years prior. Full Story 

    Family photo of Tim Cole

  • 2010: Earle Explains

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Most money was on a run for governor or attorney general, but — as you’ll hear — Ronnie Earle wants to be a part of the legislative process and thinks the Lite Guv position suits him best. Full Story 

    Ronnie Earle in Austin, July 2008
    Credit: Lindsay Beyerstein

  • Legal Lottery

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Can Texas lottery winners sell all of their payments to private finance companies? State attorneys say no. A state appeals court says yes. The Texas Supreme Court will decide. Full Story 

  • Mapmaker, Mapmaker

    By Ross Ramsey

    Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years. Full Story 

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