Crime and Law

HIV-Positive Man Charged with Aggravated Assault for Spitting on Police Officers

Anthony Duane Horne, 25, an HIV-positive man, was charged with aggravated assault for spitting on two Dallas police officers, The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Voice reported yesterday. According to police, when a Dallas County Hospital employee tried to put a spit mask on Horne, who was being book ... More >>

A Woman Says She Beat the Hell Out of Knife-Wielding Attacker at White Rock Last Night

White Rock Lake has become a favored hunting ground for knife-wielding bandits. At the end of March, one made off with a cell phone and bicycle from kids walking along the path cutting through the park below the dam. Two weeks later, at almost the same spot, a young couple was confronted by a man wi ... More >>

Why Do Mexicans Rape So Much?

And why do they always yell "Cu-le-ro" at bands they love?

Victims' Families Sue Crime-Scene Cleanup Company and Crew

Aftermath Inc. refers to itself as a "biohazard restoration company", more commonly known as crime-scene cleanup: The company's employees go in after murders, suicides, injuries, hoarding cases and other seriously unpleasant situations. But now three of their Texas employees are being sued in Dallas ... More >>

In the Last Two Days, the Dallasite and The Old Monk Were Robbed at Gunpoint

​Danny Balis just called with the heads-up: In the last two days, two local bars have been robbed at gunpoint. Danny wondered if perhaps they were related.According to Dallas Police reports, the first stick-em-up occurred around 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Dallasite on Bryan Street, across the street fr ... More >>

No Surprises: This Holiday Weekend, DPD to Make Drunk Drivers Offer They Can't Refuse

​If it's a major holiday likely to involve a drink or two or 12, it's time for ... you guessed it: the Dallas Police Department's No-Refusal DWI Initiative! Let's not waste time recapping the what-the-whats. Release the release!The No-Refusal Initiative will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, December ... More >>

Running on "bubble gum and duct tape," a new court aims to keep damaged vets out of jail.

Larry King, At Least, Salutes Craig Watkins

​As mentioned yesterday, several of the Dallas County exonerees appeared on CNN's Larry King Live last night, where they were joined by the stars of the movie Conviction, The Innocence Project's Barry Sheck and Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. On the other side you'll find King's int ... More >>

DPD Reminds, If You Drink and Drive This Long Holiday Weekend, You May Also Give Blood

​Back in June 2009, then-Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle told then-Dallas Observer-er Kimberly Thorpe why he was (and, no doubt, remains) a big fan of the department's so-called No-Refusal DWI Initiative, which allows officers who pull over suspected drunk drivers to take and test two vials' wort ... More >>

Dallas Police Department Outlines Strategies to Combat 25-Percent "Spike" in Sexual Assaults

​I know where Andrea'll be tomorrow at noon: In the Flag Room at Dallas City Hall, where council member Delia Jasso will be joined by members of the Dallas Police Department and local rape-victims advocacy and support groups to announce the kickoff of what DPD's calling a "Sexual Assault Awareness ... More >>

Unlike refugees from other troubled countries, only a fraction of Mexicans seeking U.S. asylum are accepted- no matter how horrible their wounds or their stories.

Access Denied

DA Craig Watkins: Punishment or Treatment For DWI Offenders is a "False Choice"

​No doubt you caught at least some of The Dallas Morning News's recently wrapped three-part series on Texas's trouble with properly punishing drunken drivers. Probation instead of prison; back behind the wheel instead of behind bars. Says Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in a missive ... More >>

Dallas Gang Leader, Drug Dealer and Apparent Exotic Animal Lover Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

We're thinking the kiddos at Pinkston High School weren't having a tough time getting high last year. (The markers are streets where drug houses were located.)​Tyrone Weatherall, the 35-year-old leader of the "West Side Gator Boys," pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to possess wi ... More >>

Illegal Immigrants, Desperate To Find Work In The U.S., Risk Kidnapping, Rape and Murder From Those Smuggling Them Across the Border

ICE Says More Than 100 Were Rounded Up During Five-Day Multi-Agency Anti-Gang Sweep

​This just in from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: The agency, along with the Office of Homeland Security Investigations National Gang Unit and an alphabet's soup worth of local law enforcement agencies, spent the last five days sweeping Dallas-Fort Worth for gang members and their a ... More >>

AG's Office Says DA Watkins Must Hand Over Appointment Schedule to GOP Chair Neerman

Sam MertenCraig Watkins​Two months ago to the day, we told you about Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman's public information request for the calendar of Democratic Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins dating back to his first day in office -- January 1, 2007. Seeme ... More >>

Four Months After Hubbie Pleaded Guilty to Tax Evasion, Realtor Eleanor Sheets Joins In

Eleanor Mowery Sheets and husband Nicky​Again, this is Candy Evans's beat -- why, just today she noted over on D's DallasDirt that the former manse of Eleanor and Nicky Sheets is selling at half off the original asking price after it failed to move at an IRS auction in February. Nevertheless, this ... More >>

The State of Texas Cannot Execute The Mentally Retarded, But That May Not Prevent A Dallas Cop Killer From Being Put To Death.

As City Awaits Ruling in "Billion-Dollar Case," New Lawsuits Were Just Added to the Pile

Joe Betzel, one of the Dallas Fire-Rescue workers who filed suit against the city -- yet again -- today​Back in December we wrote a few items about the so-called "billion-dollar case" currently being considered by the Supreme Court of Texas. Very long story way too short: It stems from a 1979 refe ... More >>

Two Months After Taking Guilty Plea, Terri Hodge Sentenced to Year in Prison

Sam MertenTerri Hodge​The staff was all tied up today and couldn't make it to the Earle Cabell for Terri Hodge's sentencing. But the guilty-plea-taking ex-state represenative got a year in federal prison, because U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn didn't really buy her story that, look, it was ... More >>

Craig Watkins Won't Always Talk to the Media. But He'll Talk About the Media.

Craig Watkins speaking at SMU on Wednesday​Speaking of Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins ...This week, SMU hosted a Media and Human Rights Symposium that featured among its guests Watkins, a few profs and even a noted Oscar-winning filmmaker. Watkins delivered his presentation on Wedne ... More >>

Take One Guess Why Council's Messing With Judicial Nominating Commission

​Interesting item on the Dallas City Council's agenda this morning: "Judicial Nominating Commission." (It's Action Item No. 5, for those playing along at home.) City Attorney Tom Perkins is offering the council three alternative ways to fix the body that vets candidates for municipal judgeships. S ... More >>

Six Months After La Familia Bust, Dallas Boss Pleads Guilty to Meth Trafficking

Kimberly ThorpeSome of the drugs and money seized by law-enforcement officials in the fall of 2009​We were there in October of last year, when the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the I.R.S., the U.S. Secret Service and Texas Air National Guard -- and every other law-enforcing acronym -- ... More >>

Two Who Took Guilty Pleas in City Hall Corruption Case Were Sentenced Today

Hey, Don Hill, how many years in prison did guilty-plea-taker John Lewis get today?​John Lewis and Kevin Dean were among the first two to plead guilty, both to one count of extortion, in the Dallas City Hall federal corruption case -- Lewis in March of last year; Dean, in June. When Lewis pleaded ... More >>

The Feds' Local Tax Busts Best-Of: The Chart-Topping Hits From 2009

​There's magic in these hits hot off the charts, all charged with original star power -- pure power! New, from K-Tel and the U.S. Attorney's Office, this hit parade of local tax preparers, investment advisers and other no-filing nogoodniks currently serving five to Top 10! The original hits of '09 ... More >>

Couple Who Left Premature Infant in Car During East Dallas Bank Robbery Indicted

​Perhaps you recall the recent tale of Inequa Rushing and Waylon McDonald, who, late last month, robbed a bank at East R.L. Thornton Freeway and Grand Avenue -- and left a baby in the backseat, not to mention ID in the parking lot. It merited a brief mention in the regional roundup, but the U.S. A ... More >>

A Fighter Reflects

King For A Day

A court case forced a Santeria priest to reveal some of his religion’s secrets. Its ritual of animal sacrifice, he revealed on his own.

How the Feds Convicted Don Hill

Mexican Citizens Seeking Help from the Local Consulate Get Snared in a Legal Grudge Match

What About Bob?

Laugh openly at Robert Hawkins

44 After The 28

Remembering a trade of blue plates for civil rights

Dallas Has a Real-Life Dr. Gregory House in Dr. Richard Buch

Some call Dr. Buch a troubled genius. His ex-patients and hospital bosses call him trouble.

Haggling Over Who Collects Late Child Support Payments Could Leave Some Kids Without

Family Court Judge Sheds Light on Unfair Child Support Practices in Texas

Judge David Hanschen lets men challenge whether the kids they support are theirs. And the Texas Attorney General's Office is pissed.

Still an Aryan Blood Brother

Two murders and two life sentences won't alter one convict's allegiance to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas

Sharon Keller is Texas' Judge Dread

When Sharon Keller turned off the clock on a Death Row inmate's last-gasp appeal, she became the most vilified judge in Texas

Plano Cops Make Bitter Divorce Even Worse

Former Warden Reconsiders Executions

Jim Willett oversaw 89 executions. Now, amidst dozens of DNA exonerations, he wonders whether it was right.

Bully on the Bench

When big-city lawyers appear in the courtroom of Judge Gene Knize, they better be prepared to duck and cover

Killing Hate

Matthew's mother speaks

Tsunami!

A wall of Bush slams into Dallas

Psycho Mom

Lisa Diaz had to save her "precious babies" from an evil world. She drowned them.

Dissed robes

On the prosecution-biased Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, justice isn't blind. It's dumb.

A mighty roar

Los Tigres del Norte have become legends by singing the immigrant's song

Toxic Justice

Lawyer Fred Baron says he's one of the good guys, fighting a war against evil asbestos manufacturers. But some former employees claim his firm is a factory that mass-produces lawsuits by implanting memories and inventing testimony.

Deathtrap

While Erica Sheppard sits on death row, penniless and convicted of a gruesome murder, her cadre of elite Dallas lawyers tries to prove that the justice system has gone fatally awry

Fit to be fried

Idaho's potato king accuses a dead Dallas oilman and his sons of a multimillion-dollar scam