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The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Community Property

    By Reeve Hamilton

    The Texas Association of Community Colleges is accusing the University of Texas of siphoning money from programs that support community colleges into UT’s College of Education. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Hank Skinner's Last Chance

    By Brandi Grissom

    The U.S. Supreme Court heard testimony Wednesday in a case that could have far-reaching ramifications for criminal justice nationally. Lawyers for Henry “Hank” Skinner maintain that the Texas death row inmate has a civil right to access DNA evidence that could exonerate him in the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend and her two sons. Lawyers for the state argue that Skinner exhausted his opportunity to analyze potentially exculpatory evidence when his defense team declined to request testing at his original trial, fearing that the results might be incriminating. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Inquiring Minds

    By Morgan Smith

    Judge Charlie Baird will decide today whether to recuse himself from an investigation into the innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Corsicana man executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three young daughters. But with or without Baird, a bigger question is in play: Is a court of inquiry the appropriate venue to consider Willingham’s guilt or innocence? Full Story 

    John Bradley and District Judge Charlie Baird.
    Credit: Illustration by Tom Pennington/Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Keller Cleared

    By Morgan Smith

    A specially appointed court of review vacated the State Commission on Judicial Conduct's sanction of Sharon Keller today, saying the state board acted unconstitutionally in reprimanding the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Full Story 

    Sharon Keller at the 2010 Texas Republican Convention.

  • ICE Under Fire

    By Julián Aguilar

    A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration. Full Story 

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    Credit: Ben Hassan

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on whether Bill White at the top of the ballot helps Houston-area candidates, Aaronson and Stiles present a treemap of Texas political ads, Stiles and Ramsey on the latest campaign finance filings, Aguilar on the Laredo mayor's race, Hamilton on anonymous tweeters who make mischief, Ramshaw interviews a disability rights activist with a thing for iPads and bibles, Hu on the accidental release of Rick Perry's "secret" schedule, M. Smith on the bitter back-and-forth over a voter registration effort in Harris County, Philpott's micro-debate on education between two House candidates, Grissom on this week's twist in the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation and, in our latest collaboration with a big-city Texas newspaper, Stiles, Grissom and John Tedesco of the San-Antonio Express News on what kind of Texans, exactly, are applying to carry concealed handguns: The best of our best from Oct. 4 to 9, 2010. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Perry Provided "Political Schedule" By Mistake

    By Elise Hu

    Texans weren't supposed to see Gov. Rick Perry's Sept. 15 schedule after all. The governor's office says it mistakenly released the governor's "political schedule" — as opposed to his schedule of official state business — to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's campaign. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Not-So-Spare Schedule

    By Elise Hu

    Gov. Rick Perry apparently keeps a more detailed schedule than what his office has previously released to the public. In what might have been a mistake, a more detailed version came out in response to an open records request from Democrat Bill White’s campaign. Full Story 

  • The Prosecution Objects

    By Brandi Grissom

    Fifteen years ago Judge Charlie Baird was one of the justices on the state’s highest criminal court who reaffirmed Cameron Todd Willingham’s death sentence. On Wednesday, Baird is scheduled to begin a process that could determine whether that conviction and Willingham’s execution were wrong. And the prosecution objects. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • An Obama Gun Rush?

    By Brandi Grissom and Matt Stiles, The Texas Tribune, and John Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News

    In the two years since Barack Obama was elected president, many Texas gun owners — afraid of losing their Second Amendment rights — have stocked up on weapons and ammo. Texans have also sought a record number of concealed handgun licenses. Coincidence? Full Story 

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    Credit: Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News

  • Crime, Guns and Money

    By Brandi Grissom and Matt Stiles, The Texas Tribune, and John Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News

    When the state's concealed handgun statute was approved 15 years ago, lawmakers argued it would help citizens defend themselves — but residents of low-income, largely Democratic nieghborhoods aren't applying for gun permits as often as those in wealthier, more-conservative areas, according to a Texas Tribune/San Antonio Express-News analysis. Full Story 

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    Credit: Edward A. Ornelas\The San Antonio Express-News

  • A Place to Shoot

    By Matt Stiles

    In a pattern that's playing out in San Antonio and other major metro areas in Texas, residents in low-income neighborhoods aren't taking advantage of the state's concealed-carry law as often as residents living in wealthier, more conservative areas. Full Story 

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  • The Weekly TribCast: Episode 48

    By Elise Hu

    Our topics this week include the renewed debate over concealed handguns on campus, the advantages of not debating or talking to the press and the hotly contested battle between Congressman Chet Edwards and Republican Bill Flores in CD-17. Full Story 

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