Lennie Small was the simple-minded field worker in Of Mice and Men who, in a moment of confused panic, inadvertently kills the wife of the boss’ son. He’s an iconic character in American literature, so iconic that Texas used him as a benchmark to help decide when it’s okay to…
A recent opinion out of a state appeals court in Dallas sheds no light on whether Scott Wiseman of Garland is a complete scumbag. It does, however, make one thing clear: Prosecutors, do not let your expert witnesses opine on the statistical likelihood that your victim is telling the truth…
Update at 12:34 p.m.: Police have identified the victim as 23-year-old Vilma Esperanza Alvarado. Original post: Early Sunday afternoon, about 1:15 p.m., officers were called to an empty warehouse parking lot at 7301 Ambassador Row, just off Stemmons, where they discovered the body of a Hispanic woman who had been…
Word came this morning that Dallas police were involved in yet another officer-involved shooting. This time, no one was shot. According to a police report, 50-year-old Luis Ramirez placed a $700 backpack leaf blower and other lawn care equipment on his apartment balcony to load into his truck for the…
Last month, the daughter of Larry Gene McCollum sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. McCollum was serving an 11-month sentence at Hutchins State Jail in Dallas last summer when, after days in a cell where the temperature neared triple digits, he had a seizure. He was taken to the…
WFAA is reporting that the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office has just released their report on the fatal police shooting of James Harper, whose death brought hundreds of people out into the streets in protest last week. Many in the crowd believed Harper had been shot in the back. The…
Dallas police just sent word that they arrested 46-year-old Enio Cardoso Wissel for alleged indecency with an 8-year-old boy at Julia C Frazier Elementary School. Tawnell Hobbs at the Morning News has more. Wissell was a fine arts teacher with DISD from August 2011 until March 2012, when he was…
Each year, a handful of Dallas county teenagers accused of crimes are “certified,” meaning they’re being charged as adults and will appear in adult criminal court. While they await trial, they sit in Dallas county jail. We’ve learned that while in jail, these teens are kept in their cells for…
What happens when you don’t pay a prostitute for services rendered, then leave her alone in your house? Probably something like this, as reported last night by CBS 11: Three Mustang players attended the dinner and returned to their off-campus home, on Anita Street, to find that someone had stolen…
On July 20, Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to a call in the 4500 block of Cowan and found 20-month-old Trey Jenkins unresponsive. Jenkins was transported to Children’s Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined he died of blunt-force trauma to the chest and stomach that was too severe…
It’s raw and unedited, but here’s a recording of radio traffic on the scene of Tuesday’s shooting near Fair Park. It was posted to YouTube by Fire Scene Audio, an operation that apparently records traffic around the country. In the process now of listening to the whole thing. I’ll mark…
Dallas police sent out a bare-bones press release this morning announcing that officer Matthew Gaines, who has been with the department for two years, is on administrative leave after being arrested at about 5:30 a.m. It didn’t give any additional details like where he was arrested. I had no luck…
DPD just passed along more details on the sequence of events that led to the fatal shooting of 31-year-old James Harper. According to DPD’s description of events, officer Brian Rowden and two cops were responding to a kidnapping call at 5316 Bourquin. There were four black men inside the house,…
Last Tuesday, four men smashed the front door of Southern Staple Supply in the 7000 block of John Carpenter Freeway, stole 30 air guns and an air compressor worth a combined $14,000, then drove away in a white van. You can see the video here All four suspects are described…
A southern Dallas neighborhood flooded the streets in outrage late yesterday, after a 31-year-old man was shot dead by a Dallas police officer during a chase from a suspected drug house. Police say they believe the suspect-turned-victim, a veteran criminal named James “G-Code” Harper, was shot in the stomach and…
Just before 2 p.m. today, the conference room in state senator Royce West’s law office looked like a game of journalist Tetris, as some two dozen reporters and ten news cameras crammed around a long table to hear what Dez Bryant had to say about his recent arrest for allegedly…
Update at 9:55 a.m. on July 25: Police sent word this morning that Beltran has been found. Promising more details later. Original post:Early this morning, just after the bars closed, Elia Beltran, 20, and a friend were walking from Club Rio along S. Walton Walker Boulevard. They were nearing Beltran’s…
Update at 8:42 a.m.:The guy with the gun has been identified as 23-year-old Todd Canady. Original post: It’s Monday night and you’re out of milk. Mornings just aren’t the same without the chocolate milky dregs of your Cocoa Puffs, so a trip to Walmart is in order. Keys? Check. Wallet?…
Update at 2:34 p.m.:Okay, now we know. DPD’s statement hit my inbox a few minutes ago: In response to the shooting that occurred in Aurora, Colorado, the Dallas Police Department has instructed patrol officers to provide extra visibility and to be extra vigilant at public locations where large numbers of…
Back in April, Ryan Walker Grant had agreed to close Flashdancer, his Arlington strip club, for a year to settle a lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General. Walker could apparently live with that but, when Arlington officials began taking steps to put him out of business for good by…
One evening during the summer of 1994, Karl Pratt was wrapping up a day at Lake Lewisville. It had been a satisfying outing but, as he backed his truck to the water’s edge to pick up his boat, he realized his trailer had been stolen. Someone had cut the lock…
Texas has executed five people so far this year, all using the same procedure. First, a barbiturate, pentobarbital, is administered to induce unconsciousness. Then a dose of pancuronium bromide paralyzes every muscle in the body. Finally, a dose of potassium chloride stops the heart. That will change when Yokamon Hearn…
