Identity of Prisoner Who Smuggled Gun into New Jersey Facility Revealed by Appeals Court
by Gary Hunter
A prisoner accused of smuggling a gun into a New Jersey prison two years ago was identified when he was denied relief by the state’s Superior Court Appellate Division.
Hector Sanabria, 48, was ...
Once described as the most-watched prisoner in Texas, Wesley Wayne Miller has managed to make the news again. Miller, 45, is the state’s first prisoner to be committed under the Sexually Violent Predator Program. He was convicted of murder in 1982 and was suspected of several rapes. Two years after ...
Washington crime lab chief Barry Logan resigned effective March 14, 2008, after judges in three counties roundly criticized the work performed in state laboratories under his supervision.
The fallout mainly stemmed from hundreds of DUI cases that were improperly handled by Ann Marie Gordon during her stint as a manager ...
Houston District Attorney Caught in E-mail Scandal, Resigns, Held in Contempt
by Gary Hunter
Racist jokes, sexually explicit photos, love notes to his mistress and evidence of improper political campaigning were found in the e-mail account of former Harris County (Houston, Texas) District Attorney Charles “Chuck” Rosenthal, Jr. Nevertheless, even ...
It took less than three months for Texas officials to reach an agreement after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), alleging mistreatment of youthful offenders. A final settlement was entered by the court on May 5, 2008.
The lawsuit brought against the ...
About an hour into his shift on December 15, 2007, Union County, New Jersey jail guard Rudolph Zurick discovered that prisoners Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt were missing.
Zurick immediately took steps to have the jail locked down. When it became apparent that Blunt and Espinosa were long gone, Zurick ...
Virginia Felons Notified of Possible Exculpatory DNA Evidence – Eventually
by Gary Hunter
On January 9, 2008, Virginia’s state Forensic Science Board (FSB) voted 6 to 5 against notifying convicted defendants that DNA evidence had been discovered in their criminal cases. Instead, the FSB decided, it would be up to ...
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) confirmed on January 9, 2008 that an entire wing on the Dalhart Unit was being closed indefinitely. Nearly 300 prisoners were transferred throughout the prison system because the unit had been dangerously short-staffed for months. Records show that Dalhart had been operating at ...
Until February 13, 2008, Ronald Joseph, 29, was serving time at a federal penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas for firearm and drug-related convictions. On that date he was found dead in his cell; a preliminary autopsy report indicated he had been murdered.
“[A] precise cause of death” has not been determined, ...
When Texas Youth Commission (TYC) ombudsman Will Harrell toured the privately-operated Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte, Texas on September 24, 2007, he found children sleeping on dirty bed sheets, walls covered with smeared feces, urine-stained walls around toilets, excrement in the shower area and reports of insects in ...
