Harris County District Attorney's Office

Prosecutors Dismiss Assault Charges in J Prince Gym Beating Case

HPD Cops Indicted For Stealing From HPD Cops

Broken Promises

Fourth Ward residents are left with a harsh reality

Waldhauser Watch

A story about the new life and old ways of a notorious killer spurs indictments and national coverage

Change Comes To The Harris County Courthouse

A story about the new life and old ways of a notorious killer spurs indictments and national coverage

The Gangs Among Us

Asian crime is growing. Asian immigrants are its main target. And the HPD hasn't a clue what to do.

Letters

Asian crime is growing. Asian immigrants are its main target. And the HPD hasn't a clue what to do.

Dissecting Dr. Carter

Harris County's chief pathologist finds herself under the microscope.

Insider

Harris County's chief pathologist finds herself under the microscope.

Not Everyone Is Cheering DA Pat Lykos's Latest Move

Photo courtesy Pat Lykos for DAIf you look up "throwing someone under the bus" in the dictionary of clichés, you might just find the following example from Pat Lykos's braver, newer Harris County District Attorneys Office used as illustration. Not content to keep her ire in-house about a recent jur ... More >>

Shin Splits

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

Who's Crying Now?

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

Priscilla Slade and the TSU Three

Spurred on by a fellow student's death, Oliver Brown, William Hudson and Justin Jordan ran a gauntlet on their way to bring down a president

Toy Story

An HPD sex-toy crackdown goes limp

Building a Case

Did prosecutors use -- or abuse -- a little-known remodeling law?

Getting Wasted

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

After 22 Years Of Wrongful Imprisonment, Two More Days To Freedom

A man convicted of rape in 1987, based largely on questionable HPD crime lab data, and sentenced to life in prison is expected to be released on bond Thursday, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Recent DNA test results show "discrepancies between the new tests and evidence p ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Some Arrests, And Sex Gone Wrong

Houston police have arrested Harry Dwight Williams for allegedly shooting a 19-year-old man and his girlfriend earlier this month at McCullough Park. Police say that James Smith, 19, was walking through the park with his girlfriend when he saw Williams, and the two men started arguing. When they sta ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Nothing Good Comes From A Naked, Gun-Toting Man

Houston police officers at the Northeast Patrol Division substation got more than just a shock Tuesday when a car wildly crashed through the facility's security gate. They ended up in a shootout in which the driver of the car was killed. According to a mix of police and media reports, officers from ... More >>

Complain About BARC, Find Yourself Charged With A Crime

Photo by bf_photos The Harris County District Attorney's Office has charged a BARC volunteer for filing a false police report regarding animal abuse he said he heard while at the city's animal control facility. Shelby Kibodeaux was charged July 1 with the class B misdemeanor, which ca ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Don't Mess With A Cop's K-9

​You don't mess with a man's dog. Especially if that man is a cop. At about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Houston police officer W.G. Smith made his way to an apartment complex at 7100 Renwick to check out a burglary that was supposedly going on. As Smith was heading up to the apartment, one of the people wh ... More >>

Two Cousins Nabbed In Mexico For Separate Houston Murders

​Two men wanted for separate Houston murders were caught together in Guadalajara, Mexico yesterday afternoon. The crimes, which occurred about two years apart, were unrelated. The suspected killers are cousins. "Murder runs in this family," said homicide detective Michael Miller of the Houston Po ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Where Have All The Killers Gone?

​As the temperature slowly begins to dip, so too it seems that the number of murdered bodies found in and around Houston are fewer and fewer.But that certainly doesn't mean there's no action for the police.On Wednesday at about 8:30 p.m., a 37-year-old woman and her roommate began arguing in their ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: A Police Shooting Over An Open Beer

​There is something to be said about the importance of solid doors, strong locks and a secure home. Think not? Well, the carnage over the past several days may change your mind.It was Friday evening, about 7 p.m., when 18-year-old Jubelle Serano was taking care of her 6-year-old sister at their ho ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: A Stench At The Airport

​George Bush Intercontinental Airport may not be on the same level as mythic Mafioso burial grounds such as JFK in New York or the airport in Newark, N.J., but it still finds a stiff every once in a while.Last week, airport police got a call about a terrible stench coming from the parking lot of t ... More >>

The DA's Victims Rights Division Becomes A Victim Itself

​A year ago, the Houston Press looked into restitution in the state parole system and discovered that in 90 percent of the cases, victims never get all the money that was owed to them.While we can't vouch for the percentage, it looks like victims counting on the Harris County District Attorney's O ... More >>

13-Year-Old Can't Be A Prostitute Because She Can't Consent To Sex, Attorneys Argue

​The Texas Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a case involving the Harris County District Attorney's prosecution of a 13-year-old girl for prostitution. Attorneys for the girl, called "B.W." in the proceedings, say that, because a minor cannot consent to sex, B.W. should not have been ... More >>

Unnamed Suspected Drug Dealer, Bayou Body Count No. 20

​If there were a class for crooks, the message would be taught in Crime 101: Don't dare the cops to shoot you, because they probably will.One suspected drug offender, however, apparently missed that little lesson. And not surprisingly, he paid for it with his life.On Friday, Houston narcotics offi ... More >>

What? Someone Actually Gonna Do Time For Identity Theft?

​Nakeshia Brown, a 30-year-old Houston woman, has been sentenced for stealing the identities of patients while working as a nurse at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The Houston Press wrote about Brown's case in a cover story about identity theft, published in June of last year. The story highlighted th ... More >>

The Key/Kashmere Case That May Vanish Into the Void

​Investigations are essentially complete into the Key Middle School/Kashmere High School fiasco Superintendent Terry Grier said Tuesday. All except for the part that HISD investigators have discovered that at least one other person and perhaps two were also involved in the multitude of alleged pr ... More >>

On Hold

Found not guilty of the rape charges against him twice over, a former deputy constable still can't get his job back.

Michael Anthony Green: Wrongly Imprisoned For 27 Years, But Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting For Restitution

Michael Anthony Green deserves to get paid, but he'll have to wait in line. ​The case of Michael Anthony Green has been in the news lately, because Green served 27 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. The district attorney's office sent out a press release yesterday taking credit for Green ... More >>

Albert Randle III, 23, Bayou Body Count No. 194

Friday night fight in a bar​A bar shooting near the Third Ward left a 23-year-old man dead Friday night.Police received a call shortly before midnight about a shooting at C. Phil's Bar at 401 Alemda Road. Whent hey got there they discovered Albert Randle III had been shot in the chest.He was trans ... More >>

Schoolhouse Rocked: Allegations of Conflicts of Interest at HCC

If the HCC board room is rockin', don't come a knockin'​Things seem to keep getting uglier over at Houston Community College. On Thursday, the board of trustees reportedly held a closed session to discuss an investigation into possible conflicts of interest by trustee Yolanda Flores and former t ... More >>

Texas High Court Halts Hearing On Death Penalty

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, acting on its own motion, has ordered a halt in the hearings District Judge Kevin Fine is conducting into the constitutionality of the death penalty as it is applied here. District Attorney Pat Lykos' office made the announcement, having been informed of the mov ... More >>

Animal Abuse: The Five Worst Houston Examples In 2010

Humans: Will you ever learn?​We like to think that animal abusers will not only get a lump of coal from Santa this time of year, but a pitchfork-in-the-ass from the Other Guy in Red as well. For those of you who like to keep tabs on just how low the human race can sink, here's a roundup of some of ... More >>

Omar Ventura, 29, Bayou Body Count No. 20

Cop leaves bar at closing time and finds trouble​An off-duty cop leaving a bar shot to death a man involved in a scuffle and wounded another, Houston police say. Jose Coronado, who has been with HPD for almost five years, was leaving Sherlock's Pub in the 1900 block of West Gray about 2:20 a. ... More >>

Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 31

Male shot by off-duty cop.​An unidentified male of unknown age was shot by an off-duty Houston Police officer Wednesday night. Officer S. Bryant, a 15-year veteran of HPD currently assigned to the Narcotics Division, was working an extra job at the Emerald Bay Apartments (6767 Bennington) when ... More >>

Jose Zerate Brings (Sex) Toys to Meet Kids at Hotel, Cops Say

KPRCJose Zerate: Wrong kind of toys.​A man who met a woman online and insisted she bring along two young children she babysat to a hotel rendezvous arrived on the scene carrying sex toys and was arrested, KPRC is reporting. A spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney's Office tells ... More >>

Nathan Del Sol, 5, Bayou Body Count No. 82

Horror story: Five-year-old shot by his seven-year-old brother.​Houston homicide investigators are looking into the shooting death of a five-year-old boy who was shot by his seven-year-old brother. The two were left unattended in a Katy Freeway motel room while their father was in the motel's ... More >>

Houston Tow Truck Drivers Are Totally Above The Law

Mater makes his own rules​Tow truck drivers in Houston can break into your car in order to tow it -- against state regulations -- and here's why: Law enforcement ain't gonna stop 'em. We learned this by following up on an e-mail from a guy who says he watched a driver for Fast Tow jimmy the l ... More >>

Tambreshia Laqua Jackson: HPD Let Alleged Teen Mom-Killer Have Her Baby Before Arresting Her

Had her baby then turned herself in.​Sixteen-year-old Tambreshia Laqua Jackson shot her mother to death in 2009, but by the time police figured out she'd done it, she was eight months pregnant. "It was agreed by HPD, the Harris County District Attorney's Office and Jackson that she would turn ... More >>

Why Tow Truck Drivers Can Break Into Your Car

Had her baby then turned herself in.​Sixteen-year-old Tambreshia Laqua Jackson shot her mother to death in 2009, but by the time police figured out she'd done it, she was eight months pregnant. "It was agreed by HPD, the Harris County District Attorney's Office and Jackson that she would turn ... More >>

Game On

With little in the way of penalties, illegal gambling operations flourish in Houston.

Nolton Joseph LaFleur III, Shot By Metro Officer, Bayou Body Count No. 115

Another fatal shooting by a Metro cop.​For the second time in two years -- the only two times in its almost 30-year history -- a Metro officer has fatally shot someone. Nolton Joseph LaFleur III, whose age is unknown, was shot by Metro police officer Richard Hernandez on the west side of town ... More >>

Police Union Files State Bar Complaint Against Jolanda Jones

Jolanda Jones has a complainr filed against her​Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones, who last month filed a State Bar complaint against City Attorney David Feldman, is now the subject of a Bar complaint filed by a vice president of the Houston Police Officers Union. Ray Hunt wrote in his ... More >>

Ray Hill's Arrest Video Tells Different Story Than What Cops Say

Don't Get in the Way of Our Titty Bar Raids, Yo! ​ Security camera footage taken during a raid at the Treasures strip club shows a Houston Police Department officer shoving gay activist Ray Hill in the chest before other officers surround the 71-year-old, handcuff him, and escort him from the ... More >>

Notsuoh Wins Injury Suit

Jury rejects $12 million claim

Blake A. Pate: Tries To Wrestle HPD Cop, Gets Killed

A death on Christmas ​A 24-year-old Pearland man is dead after tussling with a Houston police officer at an accident scene. Blake A. Pate was shot about 11:15 p.m. Christmas night by HPD Sergeant C.W. Hampton; his identity was released today by police. HPD says Hampton noticed a suspicious v ... More >>

Cop Shoots Man During Denny's Altercation

Shooting at a a Denny's.​An off-duty cop eating at Denny's shot a man who threatened him with a knife during an altercation, Houston police say. Officer J.C. Lopez, a six-year veteran, was with a group of family and friends when another group, including Clemente Vela, 32, got into an altercat ... More >>