Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

7 Stories

Texas Court Kicks Back 5-Year Sentence for Illegal Vote

Crystal Mason says she'll fight 'these cruel charges' again

(Newser) - Update: A court made a mistake in upholding the conviction of a Texas woman who was given a five-year prison sentence for casting a ballot when she wasn't eligible to vote, and it needs to take another look at the case, a higher court ruled Wednesday. The court should...

Court: Judge Who Sentenced Jewish Man to Death Is Antisemitic

'Texas 7' member Randy Halprin may now get a new trial

(Newser) - Randy Halprin was six days from execution when an appeals court granted a stay in 2019. Two years later, the 44-year-old is destined for a new trial after a Texas judge determined his 2003 death sentence for capital murder, delivered by former Dallas County District Judge Vickers Cunningham, was the...

Murderer May Go Free After 'Justice Nightmare'

Jerry Hartfield denied right to speedy trial, court rules

(Newser) - A murderer may be about to walk free, a judge said Thursday, the possible endgame to what the Texas Court of Appeals describes as a "criminal justice nightmare." Jerry Hartfield was convicted of the murder of Bay City bus station clerk Eunice Lowe in 1976 and sentenced to...

Texas: Women Convicted of Raping Girls Were Innocent

The 'San Antonio 4' are exonerated

(Newser) - "Excited" and "happy" is how the San Antonio Four are feeling after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals officially exonerated them of child sexual abuse on Wednesday after a 20-year fight. Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez were declared innocent after being wrongfully convicted of...

Convicted Murderer Won't Get New Trial...

Despite dramatic change in cause of toddler's death

(Newser) - The medical examiner changed her opinion on the cause of a toddler's death, but the Supreme Court won't consider giving the man convicted in the child's death a new trial. The high court today refused, without comment, to hear an appeal from Neil Hampton Robbins, convicted in...

Texas Court Suspends Death Penalty Challenge

Observers doubt they will continue

(Newser) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has called a stop to a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty, after an emergency appeal by prosecutors. Defense attorneys for accused murderer John Edward Green had brought a pretrial challenge to Texas’ death penalty, arguing that it didn’t do enough...

Ohio Judge Rejects 3-Drug Lethal Injections

Orders state to change executions

(Newser) - An Ohio judge has ordered authorities to stop using a lethal three-drug cocktail for executions because it may cause excruciating pain. Instead,  the judge ruled in favor of a single lethal dose of a barbiturate used in animal euthanasia, the New York Times reports. State officials are reviewing the...

7 Stories