The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.
With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments in four same-sex marriage cases on Tuesday, Texas Republicans are already looking for loopholes in hopes of getting around a possible decision that effectively legalizes gay marriage. Full Story
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Lawyers for a Texas inmate convicted of capital murder in the 1999 stabbing death of a prison guard have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his Tuesday execution. Full Story
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On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics, host Jason Whitely, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy and Tribune Executive Editor Ross Ramsey talk about last week's "breakfast blowup." Full Story
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Dawn Carlton is intellectually disabled, but she says she manages fine on her own. The 38-year-old woman is pushing for a series of bills this legislative session to change the way court-appointed guardians are used in Texas. Full Story
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Local law enforcement agencies could apply for grants to equip their officers with body cameras and could also come up with guidelines for the equipment under legislation that the Senate approved Thursday. Full Story
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A key member of the Texas House’s Republican leadership blasted Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as a Washington-style politician a day after the Texas Senate passed its version of a sweeping border security bill. Full Story
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The Texas Senate on Monday passed its own sweeping border security bill, choosing to send its own version to the House rather than taking up the House’s measure, which the lower chamber passed last month. Full Story
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State politicians, high court judges and top bureaucrats would get public corruption cases against them moved to their home counties under a controversial bill that cleared the Texas House on Monday. Full Story
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Three years after a police officer shot and killed their 5-year-old border collie, Mark and Cindy Boling watched Friday as the Texas House voted for a police canine training program they have been calling for since the day the dog died. Full Story
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After a bit of a Democratic gamesmanship shot down a major gun debate before it started, a measure that would allow gun owners with a concealed handgun license to carry their weapons openly in public is back on the House schedule Friday. Full Story
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At our 4/16 conversation, state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond — the chairmen, respectively, of the Senate and House Higher Education committees — handicapped the prospects for passage of campus carry legislation. Full Story
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Looking to clear the Texas Department of Public Safety's name, the agency’s top official is asking the head of the state's anti-corruption unit to renew a halted investigation into $20 million no-bid border security contracts. Full Story
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If the names of the compounding pharmacies providing execution drugs to Texas officials are made public, it could end the death penalty, state Rep. John Smithee told a house committee on Wednesday. Full Story
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Ahead of a trip to Texas to advocate for an end to mass incarceration, the Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer talked with the Tribune about why the state is so crucial to the criminal justice reform movement. Full Story
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A Democratic congressman has asked the federal government to do what the Texas Department of Public Safety has said it can’t: Provide information on what role federal agents have played during the state’s multimillion-dollar border surge. Full Story
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State Rep. Ron Reynolds made his case on Thursday for requiring cops in Texas to wear body cameras, citing the fatal police shooting of an unarmed man in South Carolina. But police advocates were skeptical. Full Story
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Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis has asked the Texas Rangers to look into Attorney General Ken Paxton's violation of state securities law, Willis' office said Thursday. Full Story
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The Texas House on Thursday passed legislation that would codify the current policies and duties of the state’s Border Prosecution Unit. Full Story
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Despite improvements in pockets of northern Mexico after years of bloodshed, instability still reigns in areas of Chihuahua state that continues driving people north to seek safe haven. What determines whether a person lives or dies near this part of the Rio Grande could be as simple as geography. Full Story
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As a bystander's video of a South Carolina cop shooting and killing an unarmed black man reignites a national debate over police brutality, Texas lawmakers are set to discuss police body cameras in a public hearing. Full Story
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