CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A legal defense group is asking Travis County courts to throw out the arrests of hundreds of migrants swept up in the governor’s border initiative. The case is expected to draw in the Texas attorney general and address whether Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan is unconstitutional.

News of Congregation Beth Israel hostages' safe escape is met with intense relief, but communities feel pain and fear over the latest in a series of antisemitic attacks and incidents in Texas and beyond.

The Travis County district attorney, a Democrat, says the Republican attorney general has four days to provide communications, multiple Texas news outlets first reported.

A Travis County judge Thursday tossed out the trespassing charge of an Ecuadorian man who said he came to the United States seeking asylum. His lawyers argued that the governor’s directive to arrest migrants on state charges unconstitutionally usurps federal immigration law.

Stewart Rhodes is accused of conspiring to oppose the transfer of presidential power by force. He and 10 others are the first to face charges of seditious conspiracy in connection with the 2021 siege.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s openness to marijuana decriminalization shows that the state, while conservative, isn’t immune to larger trends.

“Small possession of marijuana is not the type of violation that we want to stockpile jails with,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.

Search warrants show that Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson is under scrutiny by state investigators, accused of illegally confiscating cash and a pickup truck from immigrants stopped by his deputies.

After conservative backlash, Cruz took to a FOX News show — whose host also lambasted him — to backpedal from comments he made during a congressional hearing.

As 2021 comes to a close, here’s a look back at just some of our favorite images captured by Texas Tribune photographers all over the state — and across the nation — to tell the stories of Texans in a challenging year.

On Monday, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act, enacting provisions of the “I Am Vanessa Guillén Act.” The new law takes effect Jan. 1.

In a 50-page complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, immigrant and civil rights groups argued Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to arrest migrants on trespassing charges is discriminatory.

Austin needs more police officers patrolling the streets, Police Chief Joseph Chacon told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith in an interview this week.

Despite a surge of arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative, a Kinney County judge removed three judges who have been helping him hear the cases. The judges had been letting some of the migrants out after months in prison, and defense attorneys say the action is retaliatory.

Migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push have been imprisoned for weeks or months waiting to appear before a judge. About 90 were finally to receive hearings this week, but court proceedings were canceled.

The state's parole board recommended in October that Floyd, murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, be pardoned for a minor 2004 drug conviction in Houston. The governor hasn't acted, and isn't answering questions about what he will do.

Krause had been among the primary challengers to Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose legal problems have made him a target for both parties next year.

Foster had been the getaway driver, not the triggerman, in a killing that first put him on death row. Former Gov. Rick Perry commuted his death sentence to life in prison in 2007.

In this week’s episode, James talks with Jolie and Patrick about Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for an investigation into books at public schools and the ramping up of the 2022 election season as candidate filing season begins.

Texas health officials insist delta-8 is an illegal substance and has been for 40 years.

The state appears to have minimal oversight over events like the Astroworld concert. And some cities are more stringent than others.

The latest Texas execution protocols forbid spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching prisoners as the prisoners are killed. Some members of the high court said they feared overturning the rules would lead to a flood of requests for other religious accommodations during executions.

A Travis County judge temporarily blocked the state from listing delta-8 as a Schedule I drug, which effectively made it illegal. The cannabis extract became popular because users say it produces the “high” effect of marijuana.

The migrants were arrested for trespassing, but court documents failed to specify what property they allegedly trespassed upon. It’s the latest misstep in implementation of Greg Abbott’s border initiative, which has seen frequent violations of state law and disregard for due process rights.

Supporters of Proposition A argued that boosting the ranks of the police force was necessary to combat the city’s growing homicide rate, a trend seen in cities nationwide. Opponents and city leaders warned it would lead to fewer firefighters, medics and librarians.

Texas voters will decide on eight proposed changes to the state’s Constitution. Voters in the San Antonio area will pick a new Texas House member. And Austin voters will decide whether to require more police officers.

Austin fire officials said they’re investigating a Sunday incident that caused about $25,000 in damage as a potential arson.

Doubts over Reed’s guilt in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites have lingered for more than 20 years and gained international attention. But a judge decided against recommending a new trial.

Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 5.

The federal farm bill in 2018 made the substance legal because of its low THC content.

A November vote on whether Austin should hire hundreds of new police officers is shaping up as a test of Austinites’ appetite for police reform.

The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety and U.S. Border Patrol insist the 11 men, arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, weren’t set up for trespassing charges. But a county attorney decided the case was too muddled to prosecute.

Gov. Greg Abbott must either approve or reject the parole board’s decision. The 2004 case involved a Houston officer later found to have lied to obtain a search warrant in a 2019 case.

The almost 250 detained men, whose immediate release was ordered three days ago, are expected to be turned over to federal authorities to be detained again, deported or freed in the United States while their cases are being resolved.

The men were arrested by state troopers and held for weeks without facing formal charges, a violation of state law. It’s the latest misfire in Abbott’s hastily assembled effort to involve Texas in patrolling the border.

Rick Rhoades was convicted of killing two brothers 30 years ago, the day after he'd been released from prison on parole. His attorneys argued that racial bias in jury selection denied him a fair trial.

Defense attorneys have started asking courts to set migrants free because local justice systems, overwhelmed by arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security push, are routinely violating state law and constitutional due process rights.

Leach, a Plano Republican, and Moody, an El Paso Democrat, co-chair the House Criminal Justice Caucus.

Clinton Young was convicted in a 2001 Midland County murder in which he insists he was framed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said he was denied the right to a fair trial and an impartial judge.

Abbott has faced pressure from his right to prioritize property tax relief. One of his challengers in the Republican primary has slammed him for not including it earlier in the agenda, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called it his top priority this session.

Officials said immigration authorities weren’t interested in taking migrants who had no criminal conviction into federal custody. But without documentation, at least one newly released migrant soon found himself back in detention.

Senate Bill 6 will bar those accused of violent crimes from being released from jail before trial unless they can put up cash. That provision of the bill will go into effect Dec. 2.

Garland called the law a "scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States." It prohibits the procedure before many people know that they are pregnant.

John Ramirez was scheduled to die Wednesday. His last request to the state had been to let his pastor hold on to him as he died, something the state denied. The high court wants to hear oral arguments on the matter later this year.

From abortion restrictions to guns, the Texas Legislature's regular session Republican victories were just the beginning.

Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push, Texas state police have arrested hundreds of migrants in the conservative county, usually after spotting them on cargo trains or walking remote ranch lands. Sent to a state prison retooled as an immigration jail, many men were left without lawyers for weeks.

The House balked at a part of the Senate’s bill that would have barred charitable groups from posting bail for some defendants, but otherwise embraced new limits on letting people accused of violent crimes out of jail.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is using the state seal to shield himself against accusations by former top aides. And former Gov. Rick Perry is using it as well — as a backdrop for a sales pitch.

An affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune shows Angela Graham-West showed signs of intoxication in some — but not all — portions of a field sobriety test. Her lawyer attributes some issues to a previous brain aneurysm Graham-West suffered behind her right eye.