Category Archives: Crime and Punishment

Ogg does some housecleaning

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure there will be more of this to come. Harris County’s new district attorney made clear Friday that she will fire dozens of prosecutors in a massive shake-up when she takes office on Jan. 1. Kim Ogg, who was … Continue reading →

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Whitmire files complaint against bail-denying magistrates

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Good. An influential Texas lawmaker on Thursday filed formal complaints against three Harris County magistrate judges after they were captured on videotape rushing misdemeanor defendants to jail without considering no-cost bonds. State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, filed the complaints with … Continue reading →

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New Sheriff not interested in defending current bail policies

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Good. After defeating Sheriff Ron Hickman in the election this month, Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez is already sticking his nose in Hickman’s official business — mainly, the lawsuit filed against him. Hickman, along with the county, all the county judges and … Continue reading →

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David Temple granted new trial

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday granted a new trial to David Temple, a former Katy football coach accused of killing his pregnant wife in 1999. In an opinion posted online Wednesday morning, the court of criminal appeals … Continue reading →

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Collin County Commissioners Court are a bunch of jerks

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Unbelievable. In an attempt to lay the legal groundwork to quit funding Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s prosecution, Collin County is refusing to pay a longtime local attorney for his work defending indigent clients. On Monday, the Commissioners Court voted … Continue reading →

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The answer is to always cram more people in the jails

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously? Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman is asking the state jail commission to let nearly 200 inmates sleep on plastic cots on the floor of the already overcrowded county jail system, a request challenged by more than a dozen Houston-area … Continue reading →

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Off to trial for Paxton

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

No more appeals, so a trial is in the works. Lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are no longer asking to have a state securities fraud case against him dismissed, moving him closer to a trial on the criminal … Continue reading →

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Collin County won’t fight its special prosecutor bill

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

For now, anyway. The Collin County Commissioners Court on Monday voted to take “a careful review” of the cost of prosecuting Attorney General Ken Paxton, while appealing to residents to set aside emotions and avoid attacking the court’s future decisions. … Continue reading →

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CCA declines to take Paxton off the hook

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, Kenny. The highest criminal court in Texas said Wednesday it will not hear Ken Paxton’s appeal of securities fraud charges, putting the attorney general on a path to facing a trial in the coming months. “Today’s ruling marks an … Continue reading →

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John Bradley to leave Palau

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

He’s coming home. Former Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley is resigning from his job as attorney general in the Republic of Palau. Bradley sent a letter to the president of Palau on Sept. 13 announcing his plans to quit … Continue reading →

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More lawyers for the bail practices lawsuit

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I’m still not thrilled about this. Harris County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to add another law firm to the county’s court fight against bail reform, a group whose job will be representing 16 county criminal judges who were recently added … Continue reading →

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It’s not just Precinct 4

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

There are problems with evidence rooms in other Constable precincts as well. With Harris County’s Precinct 4 Constable’s Office mired in scandal over the improper destruction of 21,000 pieces of evidence, serious evidence cataloging and control problems also have been … Continue reading →

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Internal report on Precinct 4 evidence destruction

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The more you look, the worse it appears. One of the first hints of anything awry in the Precinct 4 property room came in an email from evidence manager Christopher T. Hess. Harris County District Attorney “Investigator Kerry Gillie called … Continue reading →

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More on the Precinct 4 evidence destruction scandal

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of cases have been compromised. District Attorney Devon Anderson’s office first learned in April that the mistaken destruction of evidence in Harris County’s Precinct 4 had likely compromised more than a thousand criminal cases, including more than 400 in … Continue reading →

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Miller avoids charges for his questionable trips

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t catch ’em all. Travis County prosecutors will not press criminal charges against Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller for tapping taxpayer funds for two trips that involved personal activities — including an appearance in a Mississippi rodeo and the receipt … Continue reading →

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Spending money to defend our terrible bail practices

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. About $170,000 in tax money has been paid to outside attorneys to defend Harris Country officials from a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that the bail bond system discriminates against poor people, records show. That’s more than the cost … Continue reading →

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Family of Sandra Bland settles its lawsuit

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I hope this brings them some peace, but more importantly I hope it leads to fewer inmate deaths, in Waller County and elsewhere. The family of Sandra Bland — who died last year in a Waller County Jail cell — … Continue reading →

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The bigger debtors’ prison problem

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not just Harris County. Last week, an Amarillo attorney released documents that he said showed the city jailed disabled people simply because they were unable to pay municipal fines. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, the victims of this apparent debtors’ prison system … Continue reading →

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The Precinct 4 evidence destruction debacle

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What the heck is going on here? The Harris County Precinct 4 deputy who was fired after destroying evidence in hundreds of pending criminal cases this year has been wrongfully tossing evidence without following department protocol since 2007, Constable Mark … Continue reading →

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Reducing pot prosecutions one county at a time

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Some Texas cities are taking direct action to dial back the drug wars and reduce their jail population. As lawmakers have wrestled in recent years with easing restrictions on marijuana use – an issue they likely will confront again when … Continue reading →

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Susan Hawk resigns as Dallas County DA

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Thus endeth her short but incredibly tumultuous time in office. After struggling with mental illness, including three admissions at psychiatric treatment centers, Republican Susan Hawk stepped down from her position as Dallas County District Attorney on Tuesday. “It is with … Continue reading →

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We now have data about police shootings of civilians

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews the first year’s worth of data. Texas police reported shooting 159 people in the first year that the state tracked such cases under a groundbreaking new law. Officers in Houston shot 31 of them – compared to … Continue reading →

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“Unholstered”

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Some really good work by the Trib here. The Texas Tribune spent almost a year attempting to collect information on police shootings from departments in the state’s 36 largest cities, which have a population of 100,000 or more, and was … Continue reading →

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Three updates on county-related lawsuits

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Update #1: Judges sued as part of Harris County federal court bail challenge. Attorneys challenging the constitutionality of Harris County’s pretrial bail policies have added all 16 of Harris County’s misdemeanor court judges as defendants in a federal civil rights … Continue reading →

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A good day in court for Paxton

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

He may well get those SEC charges dismissed. Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received skeptical treatment Friday from a federal judge who is considering whether to dismiss the civil fraud case against Attorney General Ken Paxton. From … Continue reading →

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Paxton’s day in SEC court

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a slightly misleading headline, but you get the point. Lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will argue Friday morning in a Sherman courtroom that the federal civil fraud case against him should be dismissed, their latest effort to … Continue reading →

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Paxton rejects settlement talks with SEC

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. Attorney General Ken Paxton, facing charges he duped investors in a North Texas startup, is refusing to engage in settlement talks with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission – and could be the last holdout in the … Continue reading →

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What’s that definition of insanity again?

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

How many times are we going to find ourselves in this same situation before we finally accept that we need to do something different? The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has cut funding for law enforcement operations to cover exploding overtime … Continue reading →

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HPD wants control of crime scene forensics for officer-involved shootings

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

No. Houston’s acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo, with the support of the powerful Houston Police Officers Union, has made a behind-closed-doors bid to take back control over the troubled Crime Scene Unit from the city’s independent forensic science lab. The … Continue reading →

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More focus on bail practices

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Something needs to be done, whether via the ongoing lawsuit or other means. Sandra Thompson, a University of Houston law professor, has spent hundreds of dollars bailing her cousin out of jail for minor offenses. “I get steamed under the … Continue reading →

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Bail practices lawsuit update

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

There was a hearing in court this week, and the judge was skeptical. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal declined Thursday to rule on whether Harris County should be dismissed from a lawsuit intended to force officials to reform a tough … Continue reading →

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Rangers hand off Miller case to Travis County DA

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office has begun reviewing the findings of a criminal investigation into Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s travel, a top prosecutor said Friday. “We received the investigation (from the Texas Department of Public … Continue reading →

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Legislation to ban the jailing of rape victims proposed

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Hard to argue with, I must say. The controversial jailing of a rape victim to ensure her testimony could lead to a new state law protecting victims’ rights to an appointed attorney. State Sen. Joan Huffman is joining with Harris … Continue reading →

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Paxton appeals to CCA

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Last chance to avoid a trial or a plea deal. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is appealing the securities fraud charges against him to the state’s highest criminal court, in one last bid to dismiss the case before it potentially … Continue reading →

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