How the Supreme Court of the United States and federal courts work and affect Texans
Here’s how federal courts help determine the fate of controversial issues, such as immigration laws, in Texas and beyond. Full Story
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![The United States Federal Courthouse in Austin on June 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Robert Roberson files first new appeal since his execution was delayed
The appeal includes new testimony from experts who say Roberson’s daughter died of natural causes, and cites the court’s exoneration of a man in another shaken baby syndrome case out of Dallas County. 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 -
Criminal appeals court to rehear election wrongdoing case involving Washington County Republican
The Court of Criminal Appeals will rehear a case it threw out last year. Three of the judges became targets of Attorney General Ken Paxton over another ruling and lost reelection. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
“Actually innocent”: Judge recommends overturning death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s conviction, sending case to Texas high court
The Cameron County judge also found the state relied on false testimony during her capital murder trial, according to court documents. Full Story
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![State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, speaks at a rally organized at Dallas City Hall to free Melissa Lucio on April 7, 2022.]()
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Texas’ highest criminal court orders new trial for death row inmate over judge's alleged antisemitic bias
Randy Halprin was a member of a gang of prisoners known as the “Texas 7” who escaped from custody and killed an Irving police officer in 2000. Full Story
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![Randy Halprin, then 23, one of the "Texas Seven" prison escapees, is led out of the Teller County Courthouse after a extradition hearing in Cripple Creek, Colorado on Jan. 26, 2001.]()
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Paxton’s picks cement Republicans’ hold on Texas’ highest criminal court
Three new faces will join the bench, but the political balance of power will remain the same on the Court of Criminal Appeals. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
See final results from Texas for the November 2024 election
Texans voted in several races, including for the President, a U.S. Senator, U.S. House members and more. Full Story
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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 -
State Rep. Jeff Leach asked Texas judge to consider a new Robert Roberson trial in apparent conduct violation
Leach, one of the driving forces behind the effort to stop Roberson’s execution, later apologized to the judge, who told the lawmaker there were still pending matters before the court. Full Story
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![From left: State Reps. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, listen to a testimony during a Criminal Jurisprudence hearing on death row inmate Robert Roberson on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 in Austin.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton and Texas House members accuse each other of mischaracterizing Robert Roberson’s case
After the attorney general insisted on the death row inmate’s guilt in a graphic press release, four lawmakers issued a point-by-point rebuttal. 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 -
After Roberson ruling, Court of Criminal Appeals election in the spotlight
Three of the five judges who allowed Robert Roberson’s execution to proceed will be leaving the court after Paxton-backed primary challenges. Full Story
![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers take unprecedented steps to buy Robert Roberson more time
With Roberson’s options dwindling, a House panel used its bully pulpit to prove his case and excoriate the failures of the state’s junk science law. 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 on Aug. 14, 2018. His attorneys are asking for a new trial based on new findings they say debunk the flawed science presented in the original trial.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Robert Roberson’s final efforts to stop Texas execution dwindle as support for clemency grows
Few options to avoid death remain for the Palestine man, who is set to be executed Thursday on the basis of a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
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Texas executes Brazoria County man for the stomping death of his infant son
Travis James Mullis was sentenced to death in 2011 for killing his 3-month-old son in Galveston. He was the fourth person executed in Texas this year. Full Story
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![The execution chamber seen from one of two witness viewing rooms at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville Unit.]()
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Bipartisan Texas House majority urges clemency for man facing execution in shaken baby case
Lawmakers cite new scientific evidence that they say proves Robert Roberson, who is set for execution on Oct. 17, did not kill his daughter. 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 -
Here’s your ballot for the Nov. 5 Texas elections
Texas voters will elect officials in the presidential, congressional, statewide and legislative races. Full Story
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When the science crumbles, Texas law says a conviction could, too. That rarely happens.
Texas’ 2013 law that allows for new trials in cases with flawed scientific evidence was pioneering. But the state’s highest criminal court has rejected most of those challenges. Full Story
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ highest criminal court declines to stop execution of man accused in shaken baby case
Lawyers for Robert Roberson say the science used to sentence him to death is questionable and that prior health issues could explain the death of his 2-year-old daughter in 2002. Full Story
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![Robert Roberson in court for the review of his 2003 conviction in the death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine on August 14, 2018. His attorneys are asking for a new trial based on new scientific evidence.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes Ramiro Gonzales for 2001 murder
Gonzales, who was on death row for the rape and murder of Bridget Townsend in Medina County, is the second person to be executed in Texas this year. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Travis County DA wants to overturn Abbott’s pardon of convicted murderer
Daniel Perry was pardoned more than a year after a jury convicted him of murdering police brutality demonstrator Garrett Foster in 2020. Full Story
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![Daniel Perry at his trial for the murder of Garrett Foster at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin on April 5, 2023.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via REUTERS
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