Tagged: Law

The Texas House overwhelming approved House Bill 166, a bill that would set up a governor-appointed exoneration commission.

Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, authored the bill that sets up the Timothy Cole Exoneration Commission, named after the late Tim Cole who died in prison before his name could be cleared.

Filmmaker Jamie Meltzer thought he’d just go check out a Dallas meeting for prison exonerees last February. He’d heard a group of freed inmates had started a detective agency, which sounded like pretty good film fodder. Meltzer showed up, met the guys and started shooting that day.

“I came down to evaluate the idea and I was just hooked from the get-go,” says Meltzer, who now is about a year into filming “Freedom Fighters.” Meltzer's team includes Michael May, who has a story on the detective agency on All Things Considered today.

Bexar County employees have completed the first phase of uploading court records to the Internet. The county's database is now available for anyone to search for court documents filed with the district clerk or the county clerk’s offices.

Panelists: Harley Eagle, Cecila Menjivar, Doris Marie Provine, and David Doerfler. It was moderated by Carolyn Turner. The Panel Discussion is a culmination of all the views and issues presented at the symposium, which focused on the U.S. criminal justice system and, in particular, racism, the "drug war",  immigration, and the concept of restorative justice.

Panelists Included

David Doerfler

Harley Eagle is of Dakota and Anishinabe decent. He is the co-coordinator of Indigenous work for the Mennonite Central Committee Canada, a Restorative justice practitioner, and dismantling racism/oppression trainer. Harley will look to his Dakota traditions and experience in working with Indigenous and diverse communities in both Restorative Justice and dismantling oppression to explore what it might mean to address racial harms using Restorative concepts that embrace a fuller Indigenous worldview.