Craig Watkins Takes More Shots at Henry Wade in AP Story

Henry Wade First thing that comes up when you search for “Dallas” in Google News for the past month is this freshly minted piece about former Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade. The headline blares: “After Dallas DA’s death, 19 convictions are undone.” Craig Watkins says of his predecessor: “There…

Way to Support the FBI There, Deborah Lee Stinson. Allegedly.

Interesting media release this afternoon from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, about how 55-year-old Dallas-based FBI “support employee” Deborah Lee Stinson and her 27-year-old son Mark have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The entire narrative, as usual, is after the jump, but the feds allege that from January…

In Dallas, You May Not Be Murdered. But Your Stuff’ll Get Stolen.

Yesterday, during our weekly staff meeting, the question was raised concerning the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2007, a preliminary version of which was released last week. We wondered if perhaps we’d missed it in The News; all I can find concerning the report’s release is this very general Associated…

Charles Dean Hood Will Not Die Tonight

Charles Dean Hood The story of Charles Dean Hood, who was scheduled to die tonight for the 1989 murder of Ronald Williamson and his girlfriend Tracie Wallace in Plano, has garnered national attention since at least 2005, when Salon first broke the story that State District Court Judge Verla Sue…

Coming to the Defense of the Dallas County Public Defender

Brad Lollar On Tuesday, Dallas County Chief Public Defender Brad Lollar resigned — right about the time he was being forced out by Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who claimed Lollar wasn’t very good at his job — wasting money, wasting time. From jump, Scott Henson at Grits for…

So, The State Will Have an Integrity Unit. Which Will Do What, Exactly?

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins wants to address “the bigger picture” concerning wrongful convictions. One month ago, hundreds of law-enforcement officials from around the state gathered under the dome in Texas’s Senate chamber at the behest of Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston. They came to pay their respects to…

Pacman Gobbles Up a Felony Arrest Warrant in Las Vegas

Breaking Adam “Pacman” Jones news this a.m., courtesy the Las Vegas Sun, which is reporting that the Clark County District Attorney’s Office has issued a felony arrest warrant for the Dallas Cowboys’ latest and greatest. The warrant was issued late last night, as Jones hasn’t paid $20,000 in gambling debts…

Killer Facts, Courtesy City Hall

While looking over the year-to-date crime stats prepared for today’s meeting of the city council’s Public Safety Committee, I discovered a couple of things. One: Through the end of April, Dallas had 13 fewer homicides in 2008 than in 2007 — a drop of 18.1 percent, if I read my…

After Innocence Proved and Freedom Restored, Then What?

Dallas County Sheriff’s Department/CNN Wiley Fountain, last seen when he posed for this March mug shot On Friday, we pointed your attention to some CNN pieces about James Lee Woodard and how he’s adjusting to life after spending 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Today, CNN…

Stay Classy, Judge David Young

“Fort Worth Native on Emmy-nominated Court show.” That was the subject heading of a missive sitting in UP’s e-mailbox this a.m. Which didn’t quite prepare us for the actual contents concerning a forthcoming episode of Judge David Young, one of the dozen or so People’s Court knock-offs airing on KDFI-Channel…