Texas Prisoners Still Dying in Houston Jails, Among Other Problems by Gary Hunter Clarence Freeman’s hot check turned out to be his death warrant after it resulted in his arrest and incarceration at the Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, where he was fatally assaulted by a guard. On New …
Fifth Circuit: Special Parole Review Request Doesn’t Toll AEDPA Limitations by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that improperly-filed state habeas corpus applications and requests to the parole board for special review do not toll the one-year AEDPA limitations period established by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Barry Michael Wion, …
Texas Parole Board’s Hearing on Imposition of Sex Offender Conditions Inadequate by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On March 24, 2009, a U.S. District Court ruled that hearings held by the Texas parole board before imposing sex offender parole conditions on prisoners not convicted of sex offenses were constitutionally inadequate. …
PLRA Three Strikes Applicable to Halfway House “Prisoner” by In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has decided that detention in a halfway house, as a condition of mandatory supervision stemming from a criminal conviction, satisfies the definition of “prisoner” under the …
Texas’ Parole Condition X Violates Due Process by Gary Hunter Texas’ parole Condition X has come under scrutiny in a federal court case. On December 12, 2008, a U.S. magistrate judge issued a 30-page order granting partial summary judgment in favor of parolee David Brian Jennings, after concluding that the …
Prisoners Not Evacuated, Parolees Rounded Up as Hurricanes Hit by Gary Hunter On September 8, 2008, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration for 88 counties as Hurricane Ike bore down on the Texas coastline. The 900-mile wide storm, with winds in excess of 100 mph “...is now in …
Contraband Smuggling by Texas Prison Guards Rarely Punished Harshly by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A review conducted by a Houston newspaper concluded that a large quantity and variety of contraband is still being smuggled into Texas prisons by state prison guards, and those caught smuggling rarely receive harsh punishment. …
Sheriff and Guards Indicted: Sex, Misconduct and Contraband Scandal at Texas Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On February 27, 2009, a grand jury in Montague County, Texas returned a 106-count indictment against former Sheriff Bill Keating and ten jail guards, four prisoners and two other people in connection …
Indigent Texas Prisoners May No Longer be Required to Repay Cost of Court-Appointed Counsel by by Bill Habern On March 11, 2009, the Texas Court of Appeals in Amarillo issued an opinion in a case involving Gilbert Alexander Perez, an indigent defendant. Perez raised two issues on appeal. First was …
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Denied Summary Judgment by Texas prisoner John Williams filed a civil action against the Texas Department of Criminal Judgment (TDCJ) alleging denial of anesthetic drugs following his leg amputa¬tion. In response, TDCJ filed a motion for summary judgment contending Williams failed to exhaust institutional remedies …
Texas Court of Appeals Orders Clerk to File Prisoner's Notice of Appeal by On November 26, 2008, a Texas court of appeals granted a petition for a writ of mandamus and ordered the District Clerk of Walker County, Texas, to file a prisoner's pro se notice of appeal. Clifford Allen …
Houston Police Department Motion for Protective Order Denied by On October 10, 2008, A Texas district court declined to grant a full protective order restricting discovery filed by the Houston Police Department (HPD) in a case stemming from the fatal shooting of Roland Carnaby by two Houston police officers, Charles …
Probation Revocation Documents not Testimonial Under Sixth Amendment by Following his December, 2006 conviction for capital murder, which resulted in a death sentence, Juan Ramon Meza Segundo filed a direct appeal listing 19 points of error, each of which were rejected on October 29, 2008, affirming his conviction and sentence. …
Study Shows Few Texas Prisoners Transition Well to Community HIV Treatment by by Matt Clarke On February 25, 2009, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article which reported what percentage of Texas prisoners who were receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) for HIV while in prison accessed ART …
Highest Criminal Appeals Judge in Texas Faces Removal Hearing by by Matt Clarke On February 19, 2009, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct charged Sharon “Killer” Keller, Chief Justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in Texas over criminal matters, with five disciplinary charges – including …
Fifth Circuit Reinstates Prisoner’s Environmental Tobacco Smoke Suit by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s order granting summary judgment to prison officials in a prisoner’s environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) lawsuit. Getzell Johnson Murrell, Sr., a federal prisoner incarcerated in Beaumont, …
Judge Not: Judges Benched for Personal Misconduct by by Gary Hunter & Alex Friedmann They decide hot-button topics ranging from abortion and racial discrimination to religious freedoms and contested elections. They can put you in prison or vindicate your civil rights. They can even sentence you to death. Who am …
Rodriguez v. City of Houston, TX, Motion for Atty Fees, Wrongful Rape Conviction, 2009 Case 4:06-cv-02650 Document 335 Filed in TXSD on 08/14/2009 Page 1 of 22 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION GEORGE RODRIGUEZ, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF HOUSTON, et al., …
Fabian et al v. Dunn et al, TX, Order, juvenile immigrant detainees guard brutality denial of counsel, 2009 Fabian et al v. Dunn et al Doc. 189 In the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas Emerson Gaitan Fabian v. Maureen Dunn, et. al. § § § …
Texas Posthumously Exonerates Man Who Died in Prison by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On February 6, 2009, Travis County District Judge Charlie Baird did what no other Texas judge had done before – he exonerated a dead man. Timothy Brian Cole, who died of asthma due to medical neglect …
