The role of a juror in any criminal case, and especially in a case where the penalty is death or life without parole is in play, has a solemn, uncompromising duty to impartially examine all the evidence presented by the…
Category: Criminal Law
2023
Category: Cel Phone Trafficking | Criminal Law
Cellular Location Site Information (CLSI) allows law enforcement, through the global positioning system (GPS) and phone company records, to track the location of a cellphone anywhere in society or even in one’s own home.
CLSI played a major role in…
2023
First District District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies publicly disclosed on January 19, 2023, that famed movie and television actor Alex Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the October 21, 2021,…
2023
Category: Criminal Law | Homicide/Murder | Junk Science
The U.S. Supreme Court in June 1992 established the “Daubert Rule” in its landmark decision Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. The Rule created the evidentiary premise that scientific testimony, including the testimony of “medical experts,” is admissible so long as…
2023
Crime occurs all year in Texas, especially over the holidays. There are many reasons for this, from celebrating a little too much to being with family with whom you may not get along.
No matter the reason, what all…
2023
Category: Appeals | Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
The legal question before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”) in a November 2, 2022 decision, State v. Hardin, was straightforward and constitutionally significant:
“Does a driver commit a traffic offense if the car’s right-rear tire briefly but safely…
2023
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law | Death Penalty
This past November, we posted a blog about the death penalty conviction of Ariel Escobar, who was sitting on Texas’ death row at the time, awaiting execution.
Escobar was convicted for the May 31, 2009, rape and murder of 17-year-old…
2022
An arrest can be a traumatic experience.
Last year NBC News reported about the arrest of 16-year-old Trevor Lawrence in Washington, D.C. The Black teenager was standing in line in a sandwich shop when two white police officers entered…
2022
On November 14, 2022, Taylor Renee Parker became the seventh woman to arrive on Texas’ death row. The 29-year-old Parker was convicted on October 4, 2022, of capital murder by a Bowie County jury. On November 9, 2022, the jury …
2022
Category: Capital Crimes | Criminal Law | Death Penalty
On November 9, 2022, the State of Texas executed 61-year-old Tracy Lane Beatty. He was the 577th person put to death by lethal injection in this State since 1982. Scores of these individuals were executed despite highly credible evidence of…