Subject: Criminal Law

• Justice on the Block

  Is the D.A.'s office for sale to the highest bidder?

  March 9, 2000

• Prosecutors Dismiss Assault Charges in J Prince Gym Beating Case

  July 10, 2008

• Law and Disorder

  In Janice Law's quests for a judgeship, the fourth time was a charm -- and now an alarm for the rest of the courthouse

  September 2, 1999

• Strong Convictions

  Hard-line leaders such as loopy Stephen Mansfield have taken their agenda to the Court of Criminal Appeals, where legal precedents--not prosecutions--get overturned

  November 18, 1999

• Knowing Right from Wrong

  Did Johnny Penry's abusive childhood prevent him from developing a moral compass that might have stopped him from murdering Pam Carpenter? Or is he just another cold, calculating killer?

  March 8, 2001

• Picking Up the Bill

  This time, a plan to bring drug courts here has real teeth

  May 10, 2001

• No Death Penalties This Year For The Death-Penalty Capital Of America (That's Us)

  October 17, 2008

• Bar Tabs

  The D.A. and county attorney dip into office funds to up the influence in judicial polls

  October 25, 2001

• Dumped On

  Houston was supposed to be cracking down on polluters. So why has it spent five years cleaning up on little guys like Walter Bazarsky?

  January 31, 2002

• Change Comes To The Harris County Courthouse

  November 5, 2008

• Video Pulpit

  January 12, 1995

• What Really Happened To Rodeny Hulin?

  August 7, 1997

• Keeping the King Quiet

  May 14, 1998

• Another Slap On The Wrist For The Child-Fondling Doctor

  Photo courtesy Jefferson County Sheriff's OfficeHere's today's criminal justice system tip: If you're going to plead guilty in Harris County to repeatedly fondling young girls -- some of whom you're related to -- make sure you're a doctor. And we're not talking podiatrist, here.Hair Balls suggest you be a cardiologist, like Jeffrey Klem, who pleaded guilty March 9 to two counts of "injury to a child."  He received five years' deferred adjudication on both counts and was spared having to reg

  March 11, 2009

• DA's New DNA Policy Still Might Not Find Past Mistakes

  Photo courtesy patlykos.comA non-working DNA lab and lack of proper policies were among the biggest contributors to the wrongful incarceration of Ricardo Rachell, District Attorney Pat Lykos said today at a press conference in the Criminal Justice Center.Lykos and Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt apologized to the public and to Rachell, who was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2008 after serving five years of a 40-year sentence for child molestation. (Andrew Wayne Hawthorne, who in 2008 pleaded gu

  March 12, 2009

• Bully on the Bench?

  July 1, 1999

• Ronald Taylor Is One of Perhaps Hundreds of Innocent People Harris County Has Sent to Prison

  Our local justice system would prefer to leave them there

  October 9, 2008

• On the Defense

  Internal feuds and investigations cripple the agency representing accused convicts

  January 23, 2003

• Nice Guy, Wrong Color

  How Ken Bentsen got run over by a rainbow

  March 21, 2002

• The Last Word

  They've fought for justice for nine years, but time is running out

  July 8, 2004

• Strings Attached

  Will Linden move on to become a music mecca or fall beneath the weight of a racist past?

  June 17, 2004

• Prison Break?

  Critics wonder if massive TDCJ cuts will be a prelude to privatization

  July 17, 2003

• Bench Blues

  The judiciary starts scrambling after state cuts in visiting judges

  June 19, 2003

• Screwed!

  Robert Casey told on Constable Perry Wooten. Wooten fired him. Now Casey and two other people are suing to get their jobs back.

  June 5, 2003

• Passive Aggressive

  A court slaps down the D.A.'s bid to broadly expand its antipollution powers

  May 15, 2003

• The Bradford Game

  A mid-trial meltdown scorches the district attorney

  January 30, 2003

• Justice for Some

  Just who is a victim? After flexing its muscles to reform the justice system, the victims’ rights movement suffers growing pains over divisive issues.

  October 3, 2002

• Innocence Lost

  The D.A.'s policy cuts into an inmate advocacy program

  July 4, 2002

• Old Ways Die Hard

  A state law can't break up a juvenile courtroom gang

  June 20, 2002

• Law Breakers

  County prosecutors and the sheriff target a controversial judge

  January 31, 2002

• Getting Wasted

  Local officials say they are only after compliance and cleanups. Critics claim otherwise.

  January 31, 2002

• Sick Kids

  For many mentally ill teenagers in Texas, the only way to get treatment is to get arrested.

  November 8, 2001

• Paying the Price

  Hospital district officials wanted a simple one-sentence policy on immigrant health care. What they got instead was a criminal probe and plenty of politics.

  October 11, 2001

• Drug Money

  Narcotics task forces in Texas spend millions of dollars each year busting low-level users and dealers. Is it money well spent, or are officers just addicted to easy cash?

  September 6, 2001

• Waivering Rights

  Are prosecutors circumventing the new law designed to preserve DNA evidence?

  July 12, 2001

• Rejected

  Thousands of inmates rely annually on a capricious parole board for their freedom. Most, like George Dismukes, return to their cells without ever knowing why they were denied.

  May 24, 2001

• An Open Mike

  He wants to castrate pedophiles and purge the courts of politics. He has assailed fellow jurists, lawyers and lawmakers. He's maverick Mike McSpadden, a tennis ace with a tomahawk tongue.

  April 19, 2001

• Rob Todd Unredacted

  Desperately seeking Susan

  December 7, 2000

• A Deadly Passion

  Sandra Orellana became known as the woman who had sex on a hotel balcony and fell to her death. Her family says that's a lie- she was murdered by her boss.

  September 7, 2000

• Campaign Finance Laws, What Are They Good For?

  Absolutely nothing! Yarbrough proves it again.

  August 31, 2000

• GOP Inc.

  How "Scary" Gary Polland turned his party apparatus into a political slot machine

  July 20, 2000

• Sand in Your Craw?

  Make yourself heard

  July 13, 2000

• A Yenne for Your Thoughts

  Brazoria's D.A. raises privacy issues over DPS emissions tests

  June 29, 2000

• The Insider

  Report No Evil! UH threatens its top cop for reporting a star athlete's misdeeds

  January 20, 2000

• Love Hurts

  Six of her ex-lovers or associates are wounded or dead. Authorities wonder if old ways die hard for former Houston attorney Catherine Mehaffey Shelton.

  January 13, 2000

• Conspiracy Theory

  Arms dealer-turned-gadfly Al Johnson thinks everyone's out to get him. He's right

  July 15, 1999

• Queen of the Good Ol' Boys

  The macho world of trial law is ruled by tough, hard-driving men -- and by Katherine Scardino, a tough, hard-driving woman

  March 25, 1999

• For Their Own Good: A Chance at Rehabilitation

  May 28, 2009

• For Their Own Good

  May 28, 2009

• Domestic Violence Cases Spike In Harris County

  ​Harris County is seeing a big spike in domestic-violence cases this year, District Attorney Patricia Lykos' office announced today. They also announced they've taken a variety of steps to handle it.Jane Waters, chief of the DA's Family Criminal Law Division, reported that 4,900 family violence charges were filed as of Oct. 1. "That pace of filings is 18 percent above last year, and 40 percent more than in 2007," the DAs office said. "Significant increases also have been recorded in the number

  October 5, 2009