Texas Criminal Defense Archives

Executives at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas are discussing transferring 17-year-old inmates to a vacant Limestone County facility to separate them from adults, as required by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. In May 2016, a federal inspector discovered that Harris County had no immediate plan to comply with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, as […] Read more

Cannon Lambert, the legal counsel for the family of 28-year-old Sandra Bland, said $1.9 million will go to the family to settle the wrongful death lawsuit they lodged against the Waller County Police Department. Sandra Bland died in her jail cell at the Waller County Jail in Texas three days after she was arrested for a […] Read more

Fifty-six-year-old Sylvester Bryant was sentenced to life imprisonment last Thursday, September 1 for slashing the neck of Waco resident Clara Wells, a woman who allegedly refused his sexual advances. Bryant’s mother, Shirley Mims, told the court that her son came home on August 26, 2014 and said he tried to kill Wells. Wells told the court […] Read more

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday, August 19 granted a stay of execution for 43-year-old Jeffrey Wood, who was involved in a robbery killing 20 years ago. In 1996, 22-year-old Wood sat in a pickup truck outside a gas station as he waited for his friend, Daniel Reneau, to carry out a plan to rob the […] Read more

Edward Nero, a member of the Baltimore Police Department, was recently found not guilty of assault in connection to the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Gray died as a result of his mortal injuries while in police custody during a ride in Baltimore inside a police van. Dallas, Texas criminal lawyer John Helms said the prosecution […] Read more

The state of Texas has given restitution to 101 men and women who were wrongfully convicted of and wrongfully incarcerated for committing crimes. The total compensation has amounted to $93.6 million over the last 25 years, data from the state comptroller’s office showed. This amount is bound to rise as the wrongfully imprisoned individuals get older and more […] Read more

A recent United States Supreme Court ruling which hinders police officials from drawing blood from drivers suspected of DWI without a warrant may lead to protocol changes for this procedure in Longview and Gregg County, Texas. The court chose to disregard the opposition’s argument that the rate at which alcohol metabolizes by the body justifies drawing […] Read more

Adult film actress and San Diego, California resident Ashley Stamm-Northup has dropped her $500,000 assault lawsuit against 27-year-old television personality Joshua James “Josh” Duggar amidst allegations that Stamm-Northup’s allegations were untrue and fabricated. Duggar’s legal counsel was of the opinion that the allegations contained in the lawsuit were “entirely fictitious.” According to Stamm-Northup’s lawsuit, she became acquainted with […] Read more

On Monday, January 11 of this year, the San Antonio Police Department in Texas reported to the Department of Public Safety in its annual uniform crime report that there were 94 homicides in the area in 2015. This number represents a decrease from 2014’s record high of 103 homicides, but an increase from 2013’s record […] Read more

According to a police affidavit from Decatur, Texas, 63-year-old Roger Stevens told his wife of 42 years, 62-year-old Kay Letson Stevens, that he was killing her because of the way their assets had been divided during their divorce, and then proceeded to shoot her multiple times on Nov. 14, 2015. The Stevens’ divorce was finalized […] Read more