Texas can schedule Robert Roberson’s execution — but lawmakers still expect his testimony first
Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a “shaken baby” case that many say led to an innocent man’s death sentence. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson seeks a new trial for the 2003 conviction of the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas on August 14, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court removes temporary block to Robert Roberson’s execution
The state’s highest civil court ruled that legislators can’t use subpoenas to block death row inmates’ executions, but suggested there’s still time for Roberson to testify before a Texas House panel. Full Story
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![Former Detective Brian Wharton testifies during a Criminal Jurisprudence hearing on death row inmate Robert Roberson on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 in Austin, TX. Wharton was an investigator in the case of the death of Nikki Roberson and has expressed his doubts of Roberson's guilt and agrees with stopping his execution. With his scheduled execution drawing closer, a hearing debating the certainty of Robreson's guilt and there is a bipartisan push to stay his execution. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
There are warring depictions of Robert Roberson’s murder case. Here’s what to know.
Even before the Texas man’s death sentence became a political lightning rod, law enforcement and medical experts had differing opinions on the evidence that convicted him. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at TDCJ Polunsky Unit in Livingston on Dec. 19, 2023. Texas death row prisoners are housed in Livingston but executed at the state prison in Huntsville, about 43 miles away.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Project -
Ken Paxton calls on Rep. Jeff Leach to resign over texts to judge in Robert Roberson case
The AG also said he’d make a criminal referral against the lawmaker, who apologized for texting a Court of Criminal Appeals judge about a new trial for the death row inmate. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton resisting Texas House members’ bid to hear Robert Roberson’s testimony
Members of a Texas House committee say in a Texas Supreme Court filing that Paxton’s office is blocking the death row inmate from complying with a legislative subpoena. Full Story
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![The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence meets to consider the death penalty imposed on Robert Roberson, on death row for the death of his daughter, on Oct. 21, 2024. At issue is Roberson's conviction based on a diagnosis of "shaken baby syndrome," now discredited as "junk science" and specifically rejected by Texas law.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune -
UT-Austin’s Jay Hartzell praised by GOP leaders as university presidents nationwide take heat over protest response
Hartzell’s protest response has also resulted in condemnations from students and faculty. Full Story
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![The University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell on April 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
State district judge recommends overturning Melissa Lucio’s death sentence
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. Full Story
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![Melissa Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of her her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucio's attorneys -
Texas House approves ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates by private employers
Violations could bring a $50,000 fine under an amendment adopted Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor said the ban would be the strongest in the nation. Full Story
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![A man carries a sign protesting Houston Methodist Hospital's COVID-19 vaccine mandate outside Houston Methodist Hospital in Baytown on June 7, 2021. Employees who chose not to inoculate themselves by the hospital's Monday deadline faced suspension without pay and job termination, a policy criticized by the protesters as unfair and unauthorized.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas is set to improve in-person and mail-in voting for people with disabilities
Voters with disabilities have been pushing for more accessibility for years. This legislative session two bills gained bipartisan support. Full Story
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![Chase Bearden, 45, of Harlingen, the deputy executive director of The Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, poses for a portrait in his office in Austin on June 8, 2023. “Disability doesn’t discriminate,” Bearden said. “We want everybody to be able to vote independently.”]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers closed a background check loophole, but many gun measures failed to pass
Legislators passed a bill that requires courts to report certain involuntary mental health hospitalizations to the federal gun background check system. Many other measures that could restrict firearm access got little traction. Full Story
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![A Springfield Saint Victor AR-15 rifle is displayed during the National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston on May 27, 2022.]()
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Meet the Texas House impeachment managers who are taking aim at Ken Paxton
Led by Andrew Murr, a West Texas rancher and lawyer, and Ann Johnson, a former prosecutor, the team of 12 includes 11 with law degrees. Full Story
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![House General Investigating Committee impeachment managers, led by Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, answer questions at a press conference on May 29, 2023. From left: State Reps. Erin Gámez, D-Brownsville; Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston; Murr; David Spiller, R-Jacksboro; Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park; Cody Vasut, R-Angleton; and Morgan Meyer, R-University Park.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
In dramatic vote, Texas House approves online sports betting measure
A resolution to let voters decide whether to legalize casino gambling, however, was delayed for a day while supporters worked to find enough support for passage. Full Story
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![A gambler stacks chips at a roulette table during the reopening of Bellagio hotel-casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 4, 2020.]()
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Journalists fear Texas Legislature could weaken law designed to protect free speech
News publications and First Amendment advocates are fighting a bill to revise a state law meant to prevent litigants from weaponizing the legal system to punish people for speech they don’t like. Full Story
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Texas business interests and family values collide as lawmakers debate legalizing gambling
House Bill 1942, written by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, would permit regulated sports betting that is already legal in 29 states. House Bill 2843, by Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, would permit casino gambling in Texas. Full Story
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![The gaming floor inside Resorts World Hudson Valley casino in Newburgh, New York on Dec. 21, 2022.]()
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Paxton whistleblowers urge lawmakers not to oppose settlement that will be paid with taxpayer dollars
In a statement, the attorneys for the four former top deputies who accused Attorney General Ken Paxton of crimes said state employees “cannot be expected to report government corruption in the future if they know the Legislature won’t back their rights.” Full Story
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![Dade Phelan addresses the House after being sworn in as speaker of the House on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
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Sports-betting advocates return to Capitol with narrower bill, new Republican author
The Texas Sports Betting Alliance threw its weight behind new legislation Monday to let voters decided whether to legalize online sports betting. Full Story
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![From left: Rep. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, discuss a property tax bill on the Senate floor on July 14, 2021.]()
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Listen as Melissa Lucio learns her life has been spared
Lucio learned of her reprieve in a phone call from state Rep. Jeff Leach. Full Story
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![Melissa Lucio prays with a group of Texas lawmakers.]()
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More than half of the Texas House wants to stop the execution of Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing her toddler
Despite substantive doubts surrounding the cause of her child’s death and a suspect “confession” obtained after hours of interrogation, Lucio is set to be executed next month for killing her 2-year-old daughter. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, speaks during a press conference discussing the case of Melissa Lucio and the public push for her clemency at the State Capitol on Thursday, March 24, 2022. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers are pushing for a stay of execution for Melissa Lucio saying that there is enough doubt in her case that it would be a miscarriage of justice to execute her despite the doubts.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Watch state Reps. Jeff Leach and Joe Moody discuss lawmakers’ criminal justice work at The Texas Tribune Festival
Leach, a Plano Republican, and Moody, an El Paso Democrat, co-chair the House Criminal Justice Caucus. Full Story
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![State Reps. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Joe Moody, D-El Paso.]()
Credit: The Texas Tribune -
House committee advances anti-abortion bills, including ones aimed at outlawing the procedure in Texas
The bills now head to the full House for debate. Versions already passed by the Senate are also pending. Each measure will need to be approved by both chambers before becoming law. Full Story
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![Information and diagrams inside a medical room at a Planned Parenthood in south Austin on Jan. 14, 2020.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune
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