Texas

Hundreds of attorneys petition top Texas court over law prof’s 1-year suspension from pro bono work

Some 250 fellow attorneys are backing a Texas law professor in his unusual effort to overturn a one-year suspension that, supporters say, will have the effect of depriving pro bono clients of skilled appellate work in death-penalty cases. David Dow, who teaches at the University of Houston, was held in…

Mar 23, 2015 12:40 PM CDT

SCOTUS won’t hear case of inmate on death row for 30 years; dissenters see ‘glaring’ legal error

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear the case of a Texas inmate who claimed that executing him after more than 30 years on death row would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court denied cert on Monday in the case of Lester Leroy Bower Jr., according to the order…

Mar 23, 2015 10:09 AM CDT

Lawyer appears to take credit for ‘exclusively for white people’ stickers

A Texas lawyer once jailed for making an obscene gesture in court is back in the news after appearing to take credit for posting “exclusively for white people” stickers on the windows of businesses in east Austin. In two YouTube videos laced with F-bombs, lawyer Adam Reposa appears shirtless while…

Mar 23, 2015 7:12 AM CDT

Federal judge questions trust in Obama, threatens Justice Department sanctions on immigration action

A federal judge who blocked executive action on immigration last month threatened to sanction the Justice Department on Thursday as he questioned whether the government misled him by expanding deportation deferrals. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, said that, “like an idiot,” he believed Justice Department lawyer Kathleen…

Mar 20, 2015 7:26 AM CDT

Arson-deaths prosecutor is accused of not disclosing informant deal; defendant was executed in 2004

The Texas prosecutor who obtained a death sentence for Cameron Todd Willingham in the arson deaths of his three daughters is accused in an ethics complaint of failing to disclose a deal with a jailhouse informant. The ethics complaint, filed on March 5, says former Navarro County prosecutor John Jackson…

Mar 19, 2015 9:41 AM CDT

Former state chief justice is ashamed of the fundraising process

The former chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, Sue Bell Cobb, set a goal during the 2006 election to the state’s high court. Raise $2.6 million and win. Cobb won her seat after accepting hundreds of contributions from lawyers and lobbyists for a total of close to $2 million. In…

Mar 6, 2015 2:59 PM CST

HBO to make TV movie based on case of ex-lawyer accused of killing 2 prosecutors

The case of a former Texas justice of the peace accused of enlisting his wife to help him murder two prosecutors has provided the plot for an upcoming HBO television movie. Eric Williams was convicted last year of killing the wife of the Kaufman County district attorney and got the…

Mar 6, 2015 1:25 PM CST

Nurse who got Ebola from first US patient sues hospital, says privacy was violated

A Texas nurse who got Ebola after caring for the first U.S. patient with the deadly disease, has sued her employer. In a complaint filed Monday in Dallas County court, nurse Nina Pham contends that Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas not only failed to take appropriate precautions to protect…

Mar 3, 2015 10:15 AM CST

Allegation of sexual misconduct by federal judge in 1998 will be investigated by committee

A special judicial committee is investigating an allegation that a federal judge in Waco, Texas, engaged in an “abusive sexual contact” with a deputy court clerk in 1998. The allegation against U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. was made in a complaint by lawyer Ty Clevenger, who has clashed…

Mar 3, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Former partner with Asperger’s alleges bonus bias, solicitation of prostitutes by colleague

A former law firm partner with Asperger’s syndrome alleges in a lawsuit that his firm, Patterson & Sheridan, failed to curb discriminatory actions by one partner while overlooking the conduct of another who solicited prostitutes while at the office. The plaintiff, John Carey, worked at the Palo Alto, California, office…

Mar 2, 2015 6:15 AM CST

A new defense approach to storytelling changes capital cases in Texas

"The first time he murdered was to get a car," Jill Patterson says, "and the second time he murdered was also to get a car.

"At age 6 his mother didn't have a car, and they were doing illegal things in the house. So when he was 6 she said she was taking the defendant to a birthday party, and instead she drove him to an orphanage.

Mar 1, 2015 6:12 AM CST

Panel clears federal appeals court judge in ethics case over death-penalty speech

A federal appeals court judge did not violate legal ethics rules during remarks she made about the death penalty during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania law school in 2013, an ethics panel has determined. In its Thursday opinion, the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial…

Feb 23, 2015 5:05 PM CST

Angry at 10-year prison term, offender tries to arrange to kill judge and gets another 80 years

Angry at being sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 2013 for failing to register as a sex offender, William Ray Phillips tried to arrange to assassinate the Texas judge who put him behind bars, a state-court jury found Wednesday after less than two hours of deliberation. That solicitation of…

Feb 20, 2015 12:05 PM CST

Ex-clients sue Winstead contending ‘countless mistakes’ on loan workout cost them $20M

A Texas bank and private investment group say they paid top dollar to have Winstead handle a realty company’s anticipated default on a $62 million interest-only loan. However, for rates as high as $620 an hour, Highland Capital Management and NexBank say in a malpractice suit, they got not the…

Feb 19, 2015 10:00 AM CST

Elderly man goes to jail for 9 days for feeding cats; advocacy group hopes to rewrite law

A 76-year-old Texas man did not spend nine days in jail for feeding stray cats for nothing. David Parton said he wouldn’t have paid the $900 he was eventually fined, as the Gainesville citations piled up, even if he had a million dollars. So he served his time, later explaining…

Feb 17, 2015 4:30 PM CST