On September 14, 26-year-old Army Sgt. Wesley Durbin of Hurst was killed at a small patrol base south of Baghdad when he and another soldier, 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson of Florida, were gunned down by a fellow soldier. As The Dallas Morning News noted in September, Durbin was a…
Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog wonders this morning, “Is DNA exoneration too real for reality TV?” The show in question, of course, is Dallas DNA, Investigation Discovery’s six-part series about Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, his office’s Conviction Integrity Unit and the use of DNA to free those who’ve been…
City council candidate Billy MacLeod was assaulted in Deep Ellum early this morning, resulting in a police report naming a “known suspect” who put MacLeod in a “choke hold” and threw him into Elm Street. MacLeod claims the attack was related to the new smoking ordinance, which took effect just…
The Texas Attorney General’s Office sends word this morning that 22 Dallas parents who’ve been court-ordered to pony up child support were arrested by Dallas County constables — and it was the very definition of a “rude awakening,” as the round-up kicked off at 5:30 in the a.m. Says Attorney…
Oscar Black, a 58-year-old cattle rancher outta Weatherford, offered folks a pretty good deal: If you were to give him some of yer money, well, he’d invest it for ya — to the tune of 12 percent in annual returns, hot damn. Only, there was one problem: Black, who owned…
Three years ago, we ran a piece in the paper version of Unfair Park about a scam called BioPerformance Fuel — otherwise known as mothballs you were supposed to drop into your gas tank to rev up mileage per gallon. The Texas Attorney General didn’t take kindly to that. Which…
In 1978, the city of Dallas and Dallas County signed an agreement concerning the operations at the county jail — an agreement that’s been revised four times, most recently in 1997. Which, as far as City Auditor Craig Kinton is concerned in his latest audit, is far too long to…
On Tuesday, Dallas police officer Robert Powell went on KTVT-Channel 11 to apologize to Ryan and Tamisha Moats for detaining them in a Plano hospital parking lot for 13 excrutiating minutes. Powell, placed on administrative leave last week pending a DPD investigation, also insisted he wanted nothing more in the…
Today down in Austin, more than a dozen former Texas prisoners freed using DNA testing made their case in front of Texas legislators concerning myriad related bills sitting before lawmakers, among them fixing the way victims ID would-be offenders using photos of a live lineup, about which we wrote at…
Ryan and Tamisha Moats started off Monday with a Good Morning America exclusive in which Tamisha said she’d forgive Dallas police officer Robert Powell for those excruciating 13 minutes in a Plano hospital parking lot. Then Powell ended Monday with a KTVT-Channel 11 exclusive in which he apologized and said,…
From GMA to NPR, the Ryan Moats-Robert Powell run-in remains the talk of the nation — by which I mean the story’s the subject of this 11-minute Tell Me More story airing on National Public Radio affiliates today. Host Michael Martin interviews at great length Dallas Assistant Police Chief Floyd…
He’s trying to hold on to his job as top cop in DeKalb County, Georgia — which isn’t stopping Terrell Bolton from also pursuing his wrongful termination claim filed against the city of Dallas. But you know who is putting a stop to it? The Supreme Court of the United…
The Ryan Moats-Robert Powell run-in keeps on running — this time to Good Morning America, where Moats and his wife Tamisha sit down for an exclusive with Robin Roberts, though not before a lengthy recap that includes the dash-cam footage and Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle’s apology. During the course…
I just spoke with Nicholas Cariotis, chief of the Check Division/Task Force on Identity Fraud at the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office — and the man charged with prosecuting Bob Sambol, who, as we mentioned this morning, has been accused in an indictment of stealing $300,000 from investor and (former)…
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has just sent word that Alvaro Ivan Adame — a 40-year-old lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety who’s worked in the Drivers License Division as a supervisor at offices on Northwest Highway in Dallas and in Wichita Falls — was arrested this morning at…
Given the reaction of Friends of Unfair Park and Friends of Bob Sambol’s this morning, he’s perhaps the least likely most-wanted man in town, but there’s no disputing a Dallas County grand jury’s true bill indictment that landed in our in-box this morning: The namesake of the 16-year-old Bob’s Steak…
Embarrassed.That was the word used over and over by Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle during an afternoon press conference at DPD HQ during which he described how he felt about the conduct of police officer Robert Powell. As you’re no doubt aware by now, Powell detained Houston Texans running back…
Saturday morning, from the South by Southwest shindig down in Austin, Pete wondered over on DC9 whether Erykah Badu would be playing Auditorium Shores, as expected, or Malaysia, as pictured. Turns out, she was heading to Austin after all — but only after being delayed in Dallas, where police were…
Frank Librio at Dallas City Hall was kind enough to pass along this a.m. the latest report from the Office of City Auditor, which has determined that the city’s been losing a small fortune in muni court revenue since 2006. Why come? A bunch of reasons, actually, all of which…
Word around my Northwest Dallas neighborhood is that home burglaries have become troublingly common in recent days, as police officers have ID’d men between 15 and 22 who’ve been known to knock on the front door before breaking down the back door. Just the other day, a neighbor reported two…
Back in January, we told you the sordid story of Dallas County Sheriff’s Deputy Standric Choice, who, with two other men, was arrested for plotting to steal cocaine so they could deal cocaine — how HBO. Two months and one confidential informant later, the 36-year-old former law enforcement officer is…
Just came across the press site for Dallas DNA, Investigation Discovery’s six-part series about Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, his office’s Conviction Integrity Unit and … well, you know, because it’s right there in the title and because you follow the news. Word was Discovery had waited to shoot…
