News in Brief by Arizona: After shooting more people than any other U.S. city or county police department in 2018, the Phoenix Police Department (PhxPD) will now be the subject of a “pattern and practice” (P&P) investigation announced on August 5, 2021, by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ), according …
White Texas Cop Charged in Second On-Duty Killing of Non-White Suspect by On August 27, 2021, five months after White Austin Police Department (APD) Officer Taylor was charged with murdering an unarmed Black Hispanic suspect, he racked up another murder charge for the fatal shooting of a mentally ill South …
Wrongly Convicted Texas Man Suing Corrupt Houston Cop by In a federal lawsuit filed August 13, 2021, a Houston man wrongfully convicted on drug charges is seeking unspecified damages from the disgraced cop who fabricated the evidence that sent him to prison. The now-freed man, Otis Mallet, also seeks damages …
Black Texas Woman Pleads with White Cop Arresting Daughter, Gets Arrested, too; Cop May Have Had Covid-19 by As a White Texas deputy Sheriff restrained and arrested a young Black woman on July 27, 2021, her mother attempted to comfort her—for which she was tackled and arrested, too. At the …
Texas Teacher Who Committed Suicide After Being Snagged in Underage Grindr Sex Sting Was Unfairly Set Up by Cops, Family Says by In a lawsuit filed August 2, 2021, the family of a Texas teacher—who committed suicide after being trolled by an undercover cop on the gay dating app Grindr—accuses …
Texas Supreme Court: Multiple Misdemeanor Charges Resulting From Single Arrest Divisible for Expunction Purposes by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Supreme Court of Texas held that under Article 55.01(a)(2)(A) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure multiple misdemeanor offenses charged in a single arrest are eligible for expunction on …
News in Brief by California: Five Southern California cops were placed on leave in June 2021 after a video surfaced showing them attacking suspects, according to reports by the Washington Post. On June 10, 2021, four Glendale police officers went on paid leave while an investigation was opened into their response to …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Clarifies Interpretation of Aggravating Provisions of Section 22.01(b)(2)(A) and (B), Charging One Provision at Guilt Phase Doesn’t Confer Jurisdiction to Argue Other Provision at Sentencing Phase by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that Texas Penal Code …
News in Brief by California: Two San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officers repeatedly punched a homeless Black man they were arresting on May 12, 2021, after they allegedly caught him attempting to urinate in public. According to a report by the Washington Post, the incident was captured on a cellphone …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrantless Arrest Designed to Elicit a Confession Constitutes Flagrant Misconduct Requiring Suppression of Confession by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) reversed Jesse Adrian Martinez’s conviction after determining that the Court of Appeals (“COA”) misapplied the factors of Brown …
Fifth Circuit: U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 Policy Statement Not Applicable to Prisoner’s Motion for Compassionate Release by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the Sentencing Commission’s policy statement in U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 1B1.13 is inapplicable to a prisoner’s own motion …
Outbreak of Delta Variant Infections Among Incarcerated Persons in a Federal Prison, TX, 2021 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant Infections Among Incarcerated Persons in a Federal Prison — Texas, July–August 2021 Liesl M. Hagan, MPH1*; David W. McCormick, MD1,2*; Christine Lee, PhD1; Sadia Sleweon, …
University of TX, Dead Man Waiting - Profile of Deaths in TX Prisons Among People Approved for Parole Release, 2021 COVID, Corrections, and Oversight Project ~~, June 2021 DEAD MAN WAITING: A brief profile of deaths in Texas prisons among people approved for parole release Michele Deitch, Destiny Moreno, and …
TX State Auditor, Agribusiness at the Dept of Criminal Justice, 2021 Lisa R. Collier, CPA, CFE, CIDA First Assistant State Auditor An Audit Report on Agribusiness at the Department of Criminal Justice March 2021 Report No. 21-016 State Auditor’s Office reports are available on the Internet at http://www.sao.texas.gov/. An Audit …
News in Brief by California: On March 12, 2021, federal prosecutors in California unsealed indictments against a pair of policemen accused of pocketing cash and drugs confiscated from suspects they pulled over in traffic stops. According to a report by Law & Crime, former Rohnert Park Police Department officers Brendon …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Speculation Insufficient to Trigger ‘Forfeiture by Wrongdoing’ Exception to Confrontation Clause by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell In a case where the lower courts assumed a defendant prevented an alleged victim of domestic violence from appearing at trial as a witness to testify against him, …
Austin, Texas, Diverting Funds From Police to Transform Community by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Despite being the capital of the nation’s largest Red state, Austin, Texas, is as liberally Blue as a city can be, proudly sporting the motto “KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD.” Whether weird or empathetic, Austin has made …
All Bark but No Bite by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney Adam Freeman, an ex-president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology (“ABFO”), has vehemently criticized bitemark-matching evidence. Freeman was deeply disturbed upon discovering that when ABFO-certified experts examined case files, they rarely agreed that the bitemarks were human – …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Good Faith Exception Inapplicable to Unsworn Search Warrant by Anthony Accurso by Anthony Accurso The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that the good faith exception to Texas’ exclusionary rule does not apply where an officer executes a search warrant that he knows is …
News in Brief by California: A federal jury awarded a man who suffered severe head and face injuries in an encounter with a San Diego detective $1.5 million in November 2020. San Diego’s City Council, meanwhile, is expected to “approve a $2.5 million settlement, the money awarded by the jury …
