Police & Law Enforcement

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…

Ronald “Buffalo” Chambers, as he looked 32 years ago Dallas Observer editor Mark Donald and I have written about Ronald Chambers on and off for years — Mark, for D, way back in the spring of 1986. (Ancient Observer stories, alas, have not been been so rigorously archived.) For 32…

Dallas lawyer Laura Shockley told a Utah newspaper she is considering filing a civil rights lawsuit against the state of Texas stemming from the April 3 raid of the polygamist compound in Eldorado. A spokesman for the polygamist group, Salt Lake City attorney Rod Parker, also said he is considering…

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…

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…

More than 4,200 defendants convicted in federal court in the Northern District of Texas owe their victims $1 billion, give or take. Which would make U.S. Attorney Richard Roper and his financial litigation unit the biggest debt collector in North Texas, give or take. Among Department of Justice Districts, Northern…

Say it ain’t so, Joe Ezeokeke. Because, really, if you can’t take more than three ounces of liquid onto an airplane, what in the world made you think you could bring four kilos of cocaine onto a flight? Alas, that’s just what the Nigerian citizen did on December 22 of…

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…

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…

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…

PBC minister Joe Barron That was awful quick: Prestonwood Baptist Church has all but eradicated the name Joe Barron from its Web site — and with good reason, as today the Bryan-College Station Eagle has the news that the 52-year-old Barron, listed as a Minister of Married Adult III on…

CNN James Lee Woodard, getting a driver’s license after 27 years in prison Speaking of local news stories getting national attention this a.m., CNN follows in 60 Minutes’ footsteps with a story about James Lee Woodard, who was released from prison on April 29 after serving 27 years for a…

“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…

Barry McNeil of Haynes and Boone For six years, Barry McNeil, a partner at Haynes and Boone, has been trying to spring two Mexican nationals from a Panhandle prison, where they’ve been incarcerated for life for a murder they didn’t commit. And, yesterday, the Dallas litigator, working with two other…

State Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston, who called for yesterday’s meeting to discuss Texas’ wrongful convictions At some point, the Texas State Senate’s Web site should contain the audio from yesterday’s “Roundtable on the Prevention of Wrongful Convictions,” held down in Austin. Till then, here’s the Houston Chronicle’s account of…

Dallas criminal defense attorney Robert Guest today documents his trying to clear a ticket case down at the Court & Detention Services Municipal Building on Main Street. A few chuckles in there, chiefly his description of the antiquated equipment attorneys are forced to use — like, oh, the computer that…

As noted yesterday, 60 Minutes on Sunday will profile Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins — specifically, his office’s partnering with the Innocence Project to free prisoners using DNA evidence. Moments ago, CBS News posted a sneak peek at this weekend’s episode: The video clip below is from the first…

Just yesterday, during our weekly staff meeting at Unfair Park HQ, we were wondering when 60 Minutes was going to run its profile of Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. Turns out, you can set your DVR to this very Sunday, when former KXAS and WFAA reporter Scott Pelley offers…

Dallas County District Attorney’s Office James Lee Woodard, who served 27 years in prison before his release today In the wake of today’s release of James Lee Woodard, yet another Dallas County prisoner exonerated by DNA evidence, State Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston revealed plans for a day-long Summit on…

Mike Ware, head of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Division Seventeen Dallas County men have been freed from prison following DNA tests that have cleared their names. And till today, those cases have been fairly cut and dry. But Jeff Blackburn, senior counsel for the Innocence Project of…

Two weeks after Thomas McGowan became the 17th Dallas County prisoner released following DNA testing, 55-year-old James Lee Woodard becomes the 18th. On July 17, 1981, Woodard was sentenced to life in prison for the sexual assault and strangulation of a woman found near the Trinity River on New Year’s…