Tag Archives: Court of Criminal Appeals

First Court denies en banc hearing for Paxton trial move

We’re at a point in the Ken Paxton criminal case where it’s hard to adequately summarize the most recent development in a headline-sized bite. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud case can be tried in his home county in North … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on First Court denies en banc hearing for Paxton trial move

The case against moving the Paxton trial back to Collin County just got more interesting

All right, settle in for a minute, this is going to take a bit of explaining, and there’s no accompanying published news story that I know of. Way back in March of 2017, visiting District Court Judge George Gallagher (from … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The case against moving the Paxton trial back to Collin County just got more interesting

En banc request granted for Paxton trial moving issue

I don’t know if that headline makes sense, but it’s the natural next step after the special prosecutors in the Ken Paxton trial asked the First Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that would send the trial back to … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on En banc request granted for Paxton trial moving issue

Not so fast on moving the Paxton trial back to Collin County

The special prosecutors have requested an en banc review of the three-judge panel ruling. Prosecutors in the felony fraud case against Attorney General Ken Paxton are asking the full 1st Court of Appeals to review a decision by a three-justice … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Paxton trial to head back to Collin County

You can go home again, apparently. A panel of three justices ruled Thursday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s felony fraud charges should be held in Collin County — where he lives — instead of Harris County, after a yearslong … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Paxton trial to head back to Collin County

CCA to review Crystal Mason’s conviction

Good. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has agreed to review the illegal voting conviction of Crystal Mason, a Tarrant County woman facing a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 election while she was on … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on CCA to review Crystal Mason’s conviction

Precinct analysis: Fort Bend County, part 2

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Appellate courts, Part 2 Judicial averages Other cities District Attorney County Attorney Sheriff Tax Assessor County Clerk HCDE Fort … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Precinct analysis: Fort Bend County, part 2

Abbott appoints another statewide judge

From before the holidays: Jesse McClure, a trial judge on a criminal court in Houston, will join the state’s highest court for criminal matters in the new year. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed McClure, a Republican, to the Court of Criminal … Continue reading

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: Other jurisdictions

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial You may be wondering “Hey, how come you haven’t reported on data from SBOE and State Senate districts?” Well, I’ll tell you, since the SBOE … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Precinct analysis: Statewide judicial

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 We’re going to take a look at the seven statewide judicial races in this post, with all of the districts considered so far grouped together. You’re about … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A closer look at county races, Part 2

Part One is here. As before, this is about taking a closer look at the counties where Democrats made gains from 2016. Collin County: Our reach may have exceeded our grasp, but it’s important to note that progress was made. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A closer look at county races, Part 2

A closer look at county races, Part 1

In this series of entries, I’m going to take a trip through the local election results pages on some counties of interest, to get a closer look at how they went this year and how that compares to 2016. We … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A focus on the SCOTX races

With so much litigation over a variety of voting issues, the Supreme Court of Texas is in the news a lot these days. Will that mean more attention being paid to the four races for SCOTX positions? The sleepy contests … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Paxton trial move back to Collin County on hold

Delay is the natural state of being in this saga. I don’t know why we’d ever expect anything else. A Houston appeals court has pressed pause on a ruling that would have allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stand … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

UH-Hobby: Trump 50, Biden 45

Here’s a poll result that stands in contrast to the others we have seen lately. President Donald Trump is leading Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by more than five points among likely voters in Texas, according to a poll released … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Endorsement watch: Judicial races

The Chron endorses two Dem challengers and one Republican incumbent for the Court of Criminal Appeals. A court’s legitimacy derives in part from its capacity to inspire trust in the minds of those who live by its rulings. “There cannot … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Endorsement watch: Judicial races

A slightly less rosy view of Democratic prospects

Here’s the latest race ratings from Texas Elects: Texas Election Source has updated 27 race ratings based on the latest polling, July campaign finance reports and primary runoff results. Twenty of those races moved one column toward the Democrats’ advantage. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Move to Collin County on hold, Paxton judge recuses himself

Stay with me here. The Harris County state district judge who handed Attorney General Ken Paxton a big win by moving his criminal case back to Collin County two weeks ago is now recusing himself because Paxton’s office is representing … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Back to Collin County for the Paxton trial

Where it all began. Years after it was sent to Harris County, the criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will move back to his native Collin County, a Harris County judge ruled Thursday. Paxton, a Republican, was indicted … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Back to Collin County for the Paxton trial

Primary precinct analysis: Where a man can still win

As previously discussed, female candidates in Democratic judicial primaries kicked a whole lot of ass this year. The four statewide races that featured one female candidates against one male candidate were shockingly not close – Amy Clark Meachum and Tina … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

2020 primary results: State races

I’m going to direct you to the Texas Tribune results page, which combines both parties’ results and is a couple orders of magnitude less sucky than the revamped SOS election night results pages. Good Lord, whoever designed that “upgrade” from … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Statesman overview of the statewide judicial races

It’s good to have a full slate of qualified candidates. After years of trouble scraping together enough candidates to run for seats on both statewide courts, Texas Democrats have the opposite situation in 2020 — contested primaries in almost every … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Statesman overview of the statewide judicial races

Endorsement watch: Sri again

The Chronicle endorses Sri Kulkarni in the CD22 primary. We see Kulkarni as the strongest possible candidate for Democrats hoping to turn the seat blue. A former Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State, Kulkarni is the son … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Endorsement watch: Sri again

Texas Lawyer’s judicial race coverage

As you know, I’ve been busy with judicial Q&As as usual, but this year I’m not the only one chasing down judicial candidates to ask them why they’d make good judges. Texas Lawyer, a part of the Law.com publication, is … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

January 2020 campaign finance reports: Statewide

There’s a whole lot of candidates of interest for state offices. I’m going to break them down into several groups, to keep things simple and the posts not too long. Today we will look at the candidates for statewide office. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Judicial Q&A: Steve Miears

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Judicial Q&A: Steve Miears

After-deadline filing review: Courts

Let’s return to the wonderful world of scoping out our candidates. Today we will concentrate on judicial races. Previous entries in this series are for the greater Houston area, Congress, state races, and the Lege. Supreme Court and Court of … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

We should have a full statewide slate

Nice. For Brandon Birmingham, a state district judge in Dallas, the 2020 race for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals started on election night 2018. As he watched Beto O’Rourke win more votes than any Texas Democrat ever had in a … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Filing period preview: Statewide

Previously: Congress. As before, I am using the Patrick Svitek spreadsheet as my primary reference. Statewide elections are much less exciting in Presidential years in Texas, since the state offices are on the ballot in the off years. We do … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

David Temple convicted again

New trial, same result. A Harris County jury on Tuesday convicted David Temple of murder in the 1999 death of his pregnant wife, opening the door for the former Katy-area football coach to be sent back to prison several years … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on David Temple convicted again

We return once again to the Paxton prosecutor pay fight

This is an interesting argument. The prosecutors appointed years ago to take Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to trial will continue to fight over their pay rate, lengthening a dispute that has already delayed the case for well over a … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on We return once again to the Paxton prosecutor pay fight

There’s no reason to trust the Republican study to “reform” the judicial election process

Oh, hell no. After a punishing election for Republican judges, state leaders are set to take a long look at Texas’ often-criticized judicial selection system — a partisan election structure that Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht has described … Continue reading

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

David Temple re-trial is now underway

I continue to be fascinated by this. It’s 1999 in Katy, Texas. A seemingly perfect couple is falling apart at the seams. David Temple, a high school football coach, is having an affair with a beautiful teacher on campus. His … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on David Temple re-trial is now underway

David Temple re-trial starts

The beginning of the next chapter in a long story. For the second time in 12 years, a former Katy-area football coach is standing trial in the murder of his pregnant wife, seeking exoneration after prosecutorial misconduct caused his first … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments