On Friday, 54-year-old Claude Alvin Simmons Jr. and 39-year-old Christopher Shun Scott will be free men for the first time since being wrongly sent to prison in October 1997 for the robbery and murder of Alfonso Aguilar. Two other men will take their places: Alonzo Hardy, who is already in…
So, you don’t like the Dallas Police Department’s new black-and-whites, hunh? That comes as a shock to the DPD — especially Lt. Dale Barnard, the department’s fleet manager. I spoke with him this morning to find out a little more about the new ride, which rolls out in February. Specifically,…
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’s office sends word this morning that two men convicted of murder in October 1997 — 54-year-old Claude Alvin Simmons Jr. and 39-year-old Christopher Shun Scott — have been exonerated. Says Watkins’s spokesperson, Jamille Bradfield, these are “the first two non-DNA exonerations since Mr. Watkins…
We told you it was coming, and here it is — the Dallas Police Department’s new black-and-white ride, which made its debut mere moments ago in front of DPD HQ on South Lamar. With its intense LED lights, silk-screened graphics and that “Serving Since 1881” motto plastered on the sides,…
We’re, oh, about four hours away from getting a sneak peek at the new Dallas Police Department cars — that’s when the city council’s Public Safety Committee treks down to the DPD Basic Training Center for the unveiling of the new ride that’s been parked in the HQ basement for…
A few hours after she and 11 other jurors found Don Hill and his four co-defendants guilty of 23 of the 29 charges against them in the Dallas City Hall corruption case, Rowlett resident Nedra Frazier gave me a behind-the-scenes peek at the deliberations. Much like my lengthy interview with…
A little more than 24 hours after a jury found Don and Sheila Hill guilty on a total of 12 counts in the City Hall corruption case, the two sat down with me for a lengthy interview at the offices of Baker Botts on the 11th floor of Trammell Crow…
During a last-minute hearing this afternoon, a judge ordered that data seized from Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes’s office computer be returned — only, not to Cortes, as his lawyers, Larry Friedman and Domingo Garcia, had demanded, but to the court, where it will remain under seal until an upcoming…
Back in April, we told you about Cathryn Elaine Harris, who claimed that Elm Street-based Blockbuster violated her rights to privacy by allowing Facebook to post her video rentals online. Harris sued Blockbuster in February, but the question was: Would U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Lynn let Harris take Blockbuster…
Back up to June 2006, when Matt Pulle recounted the tale of Jeffrey Ellard, a prisoner in the Dallas County Jail whose six-inch leg wound went unattended by medical providers and became, as Matt would describe it in September 2007, “a big, soggy hole stocked with pus and the pieces…
Fernando Hernandez is a 33-year-old Internal Revenue Service employee working out of the Dallas office. Only, today he’s in federal custody after having been arrested by federal authorities, who dropped by Friday morning following a Dallas federal grand jury’s decision to indict Hernandez for just offering to help out a…
While we pull ourselves away from the world’s slowest, longest police chase …The Associated Press checks in today with Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins as he prepares to run for re-election one year from now. (Two weeks ago we met one Republican who’d like the job.) The rather lengthy…
Schutze and Merten are off in darkened corners finishing their City Hall corruption trial wrap-up (as in, What does it all mean?), so I’ll refer you to KXAS-Channel 5’s piece concerning the bill for the trial, which, the NBC affiliate says adds up to a whopping $750,000. That’s from the…
Earlier this week, federal authorities were in a Dallas courtroom laying out the case against 19-year-old Jordanian Hosam Maher Smadi, arrested two weeks ago for allegedly trying to blow up Fountain Place in downtown Dallas. We didn’t know when Smadi would again appear in court, but moments ago the U.S…
At approximately 10:40 this morning, a packed courtroom on the 15th floor of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse filled with friends and family of the co-defendants, members of the media and lawyers sits abuzz with anticipation. This is it. Finally. U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn enters and announces…
Moments ago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Ramirez ruled that there’s probable cause to try 19-year-old Jordanian Hosam Maher Smadi for allegedly trying to blow up Fountain Place in downtown Dallas almost two weeks ago. Smadi, slight and impassive in his orange jumpsuit, was solemn as he listened to an Arabic…
Sam’s on his way to the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, where, at around 10:30 a.m., we’ll find out what says the jury in the Dallas City Hall federal corruption trial. Which means those of you who selected “October 1 through October 7” in our contest are one step…
Much like Wednesday afternoon, I got another itch to sit in during the day’s last couple hours of jury deliberations in the City Hall corruption case, but I was quickly disappointed upon seeing Don and Sheila Hill in the lobby of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse. Turns out…
Phillip David Wainscott, who’s been licensed to practice law in Texas since 1995, says Dallas County is interfering with his ability to make a living — and by Dallas County, he really means Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price in his position as a member of the county’s Bail Bond…
On a whim, I headed over to the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse yesterday afternoon for the day’s last two hours of jury deliberations in the City Hall corruption case. Sure, the odds of catching a verdict while I was there were slim, but I thought I might get…
This just in from the Dallas Police Department:The Dallas Police Department has discovered an apparent theft of 38 cases of ammunition from storage bunkers at the Firearms Training Center located at 3200 Mountain Creek Parkway. The theft occurred within the last 30 days and involves ammunition for both rifles and…
Anyone who thought Dallas County Republicans would go quietly into the night just because they got their asses handed to them on the courthouse steps in the 2006 election romp is seriously mistaken. Proof comes in the form of Phillip Linder, who must not have gotten the memo that Dallas…
