Criminal Justice

State Sen. Escorted To Office By DPS After Heated Exoneration Debate

Ryan Poppe — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:41:20 +0000

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing was to be one of the last phases for a bill that would set up the state’s first exoneration commission to examine past wrongful convictions to determine what went wrong.

The hearing began with Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, stating she didn’t feel the Tim Cole Exoneration Commission was a needed item, and then it escalated from there.

Bexar County Joins Other Metros To Reform State Criminal Justice System

Eileen Pace — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:31:21 +0000

A coalition of the state’s major metro counties has an agenda to convince legislators that a sea-change is needed in rehabilitating jail and prison inmates.

The Offender Re-entry Council has been working to lower costs of criminal justice, reduce recidivism, and improve public safety, but in the early- to mid-90s, the talk around Texas was of jail overcrowding and building more prisons.

Results From DNA Testing Further Implicate Hank Skinner In Murder Case

David Martin Davies — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:56:30 +0000

DNA testing that death row inmate Hank Skinner said would prove he is not a triple murderer is doing just the opposite. On Wednesday, the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed papers that say the DNA incriminates Skinner.

Skinner was convicted of killing his live-in girlfriend and her two adult children on New Year’s Eve in 1993.

But Skinner has insisted he’s innocent and the DNA would clear him of the crimes. The DNA was not tested during his murder trial and Skinner has been fighting in the courts to get access to the evidence for testing.