Harris District Attorney

Tommy Forgue: Deputy Constable Fondled Woman's Breasts While She Dialed for Help, Cops Say

Remember how your mom always told you that if you ever got lost in a crowd, one of those guys in uniform would be happy to help? That turned out to allegedly be a little too true at the Houston Rodeo Cook-off. Precinct 5 Deputy Constable Tommy Forgue was arrested on Monday and charged with official ... More >>

Four Year Old in Critical Condition After Accidentally Shooting Self

A four-year-old boy is in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital after accidentally shooting himself at around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday night according to police. Reportedly, the boy was at home at 3201 Laura Koppe when he climbed onto a tall piece of furniture to reach a handgun that was hidden ... More >>

2012 Turkeys of the Year

Puffed up, plucked and ready for roasting, here's this year's best of the worst.

Candidates, METRO Referendums Confusing? Use the League of Women Voters Guide

In the grand scheme of things, the bigger the election, generally the more attention it gets and the more distantly removed it is from our day to day activities. Sure, voting for school board members and county tax collectors isn't as sexy as voting for president, but it is more likely to affect you ... More >>

Sgt. Curtis Hampton: No Charges For HPD Officer Who Shot and Killed An Unarmed Blake Pate on Christmas Day

Blake Pate, an unarmed man who was shot and killed on Christmas Day by a cop, is "a victim of the Houston Police Department," says attorney David Hodges, who is representing the victim's family. On December 25, 2011, Pate finished dinner at his family's home and headed towards his brother's place. ... More >>

More Charges Expected in Candice Schwager DWI Assault Case

An additional charge is expected in the intoxication assault case involving erratic blogger Candice Schwager, who police say drove her Mercedes SUV into a motorcycle June 16, injuring two people. The motorcycle's passenger, Shannon Stenseth, was treated for fractured ribs and released, but the bik ... More >>

Maria Garcia Delao: Molested Sleeping 13-Year-Old Girl, Cops Say

Police say a 13-year-old girl awoke one night last spring to find Maria Garcia Delao, 27, fondling her. The girl was a relative of Delao's boyfriend and was spending a night last May in her apartment when the alleged attack occurred. The girl told her mother about the incident in October, court do ... More >>

Ruggles Waitstaff Stages Walk-Out, Alleging Non-Payment of Tips: UPDATE

Photo by Ed T.Ruggles owner and chef Bruce Molzan lost 60 percent of his staff Saturday night.​Update: Bruce Molzan says that he has "three auditors" and a new manager going through files and payroll records as of today, admitting that Ruggles does owe the waitstaff back wages. "It's about $14 ... More >>

Ruggles Waitstaff Walks Out Over Allegedly Getting Stiffed on Tips

Photo by Ed T.Ruggles owner and chef Bruce Molzan lost 60 percent of his staff Saturday night.​Saturday night at Ruggles was busy. There were nearly 200 customers packing the restaurant at Westheimer and Montrose, with a skeleton crew of only five waiters out of a normal ten-man crew. And at 7 ... More >>

Yohance McClane, 30, Bayou Body Count No. 180

The Harris County District Attorney's office will decide whether to present charges to a grand jury in the death of Yohance McClane, 30, who was stabbed to death by his girlfriend, police say. McClane died at his apartment in the 16100 block of Vickery on the northside about 12:40 a.m. Monday, HPD ... More >>

HPD Sting Snags HBU Cop with Coke

A three-year veteran of the Houston Baptist University police force has been fired and now faces first-degree felony drug charges after the Houston Police Department caught him in a sting operation yesterday. According to the Harris County District Attorney's office, HPD had received a tip that an ... More >>

The Peddler

Both in and out of prison, Brian Culwell has spent his life selling people baubles, trinkets and jewels. Now he's buying your gold and silver.

Alleged White Supremacists Beat Black Man, But DA Doesn't File Hate Crime Charge

FacebookCharles Cannon won't face hate-crime charges.​In a crime that hearkened back to the skinhead days of the early '90s, or modern-day Dallas, four white men remain behind bars today charged with assaulting a black man at a downtown bus stop early Sunday morning. Police want the incident c ... More >>

Joe Roach, Former Council Member, Dies at 49

Joe Roach​Joe Roach, the former Houston city councilman known as much for his dwarfism as being a politician, lawyer and TV analyst, has died after a brief illness, KTRK is reporting. The station says Roach, 49, had been hospitalized for a month with an undisclosed illness. He had been a cit ... More >>

Luciano Rosales: Strips 88-Year-Old Widow Of $1.3 Million, Blows It On Online Dating, Ballet

Luciano Rosales will have to neglect his online matches if he's found guilty.​Ten years ago, a 77-year-old widow named Nola Grimes buried her son -- her last living blood relative. So when Luciano Rosales -- a 50-year-old employee of Grimes's business Cash Money, reported KHOU -- approached he ... More >>

Jessica Tata: Now She's Facing Murder Charges

HCSOJessica Tata faces a longer sentence​The stakes have been raised against Jessica Tata, the owner of the daycare center where four children died in a fire. Previously charged with manslaughter, now Tata faces murder charges after court filings yesterday by the Harris County District Attorn ... More >>

Heights Art Heist Update

Lawyers loom, tempers flare

Michael Medina: Sheriff's Deputy Kills Man Who Stole His Taser

Gun beats Taser​A 37-year-old man was shot and killed by a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy during a struggle in an apartment complex on the east side of the county, HCSO officials say. Deputy Michael Medina, an eight-year HCSO veteran, was responding to a disturbance call at a complex in the 1 ... More >>

Michael Brown: Wife's Divorce Attorney Claims the Hand Doctor Tried to Hire a Hit Man to Kill Her

Michael Brown facing more allegations​Former hand surgeon Michael Brown tried to hire a hit man to kill his wife, his wife's lawyer told a Harris County Family Court judge Thursday. In a heated meeting in front of Judge Jim York, David Brown (no relation) said he had received a tip from the H ... More >>

The Great Heights Art Heist: The Aftermath

An attorney says he'll help artists​Developments continue in the case of H Gallery, the Heights art gallery we featured last week that is alleged to have been ripping off artists for the past several years. Last Saturday, H director Heidi Powell-Prera showed up at the Heights' First Saturday ... More >>

Jason Woytek: Public Servant Accused Of Stealing Dozens Of MHMRA Laptops

Jason Woytek was a true Pawn Star​If you believe what Jason Woytek has written about himself on the Internet, you'd think he was a man of many and varied achievements: a man of God, a top salesman, budding author, an Eagle Scout and an elite former soldier. Woytek claims to have been an Army s ... More >>

Crips & Bloods: DA Gets Her Civil Injunction Against Them

First injunction granted in gang fight​The Harris County District Attorney's office announced last month they would be seeking civil injunctions against gang members operating near a northeast side apartment complex, and late this afternoon a judge granted the first such one in Harris County. ... More >>

2010 Turkeys of the Year

Metro chief Frank Wilson is our biggest gobbler.

Bill Satterwhite: Three (Alleged) Strikes And You're Out Of The Fake Lawyerin' Game

Photo HCSO via Fox 26Bill Satterwhite just has a hankering to lawyer​For the third time, former attorney William Everett Satterwhite has been caught practicing law without a license. This time the penalty for the 66-year-old disbarred lawyer could be life in prison. According to court records, an ... More >>

Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 238

A stabbing death, but maybe no charges​A man was stabbed to death Sunday afternoon in a southwest side apartment, police say.The victim and another man were arguing in an apartment and the fight escalated into a stabbing about 1:20 p.m. in the 6400 block of Bankside, police say. The victim, whose ... More >>

No Refusal DWI Crackdowns: Every Weekend For The Next Three Years

Because you're mine, you walk the line​Every holiday weekend, it seems, the Harris County District Attorney's office puts out a release touting a "No Refusal Weekend," where law-enforcement sets up locations targeting drunk drivers.Normally, DWI suspects who refuse to take a Breathalyzer (as attor ... More >>

Carol Vance: Former DA Cancels Book-Signing Appearance; Death-Penalty Foes Claim Victory

Carol Vance ducks out of an appearance​Carol Vance, a former longtime Harris County District Attorney, canceled an an appearance last week at Murder by the Book to promote his biography Boomtown DA.The store said simply the cancellation was "due to extenuating circumstances," but death-penalty foe ... More >>

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 >>

Juan Tejeda & Jorge Magdeleno: After Living Quietly For 16 Years, Arrested On Murder Charges

Sixteen years later, caught​Another week, another cold-case arrest in Houston.This time it was two men who had been on the run since participating in a gang murder back in 1994, officials say.Jorge Carlos Tejeda, 33 and Jorge Tejeda Magdeleno, 35, were quietly arrested July 7, Tejeda at the tire s ... More >>

Orlando Castano: New Bribery Bust In Bogus DPS License Scheme

Photo courtesy DPS Orlando Castano, sex offender and (alleged) dealer in fake driver's licenses​There has been a new arrest in the Department of Public Safety bribery case. Last week administrative DPS clerk Gracie Gutierrez was arrested and charged with bribery for accepting cash for a fake licen ... More >>

Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 167

No charges filed at this point​A man was found stabbed to death in a Third Ward garage apartment Sunday; the man with whom he was arguing was questioned but not charged.Police responded to a disturbance call in the 5900 block of Grace about 12:10 a.m. Sunday and found a man stabbed in the torso. H ... More >>

Lance Reyna: An Arrest, But No Hate-Crime Charges

An easier prosecution without a hate crime angle, prosecutors say​Authorities have made an arrest in the assault of a gay-rights leader who was attacked on the central campus of Houston Community College, but no hate-crime charges will be filed.HCC student Terrance Calhoun, 22, was charged in the ... 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 >>

ID Theft

Someone gets your social, ruins your credit, upends your life. And gets away free and clear.

Faulty Lab Report May Buy Death Row Inmate New Trial

It's good news for death row inmate Charles Raby - and more bad news for Joseph Chu. The former Houston crime lab analyst has taken a beating in the Michael Bromwich reports, which determined that, among other things, the lab had manipulated results to help with convictions. And it seems that in th ... More >>

Surprise, Surprise: Yet Another Delay In 15-Year-Old DNA Case

Attorney Sarah FrazierBack in January Hair Balls brought you the saga of the seemingly endless DNA case of convicted grandma-killer Charles Raby. He's been on Death Row since 1994, and the DNA challenge has been going on for more than six years. Today's scheduled ruling was pushed back yet again.&nb ... More >>

Good News: Helpful DNA Evidence. Bad News: Her Client May Still Die

Defense attorney Sarah Frazier got the DNA results she wanted. They might even win her tomorrow's hearing. But her client could still be put to death. Frazier has fought for years to introduce new DNA testing to the case of Charles Raby, who was convicted almost 15 years ago of murdering a grandmoth ... More >>

Turkeys of the Year

DA Chuck Rosenthal flies off with top honors

Election Night Parties -- Where To Watch

The DA Office's Exodus: And So It Begins

Death Threats and TAKS Tests

Some TAKS tests are murder

Quanell X Joins the Chuck Rosenthal Ouster Party

Ask Another Mexican

Free SPM (oh, and buy his new CD)

The Insider

The Talented Mr. Stockman. A defeated politician resurrects himself in Seventh District heaven with a stash of campaign cash

The Insider

Political Goodfellows Editor: Gabe and Gary get new toys; Lee and Mario cry in their stockings

Get The Goods On All The Bads

We Snitch on HOUSNITCH! What's really behind City Hall's whistle-blower Web page?

Letters

No Time for Sergeants

The Houston Police Department puts high-ranking cops out on the street

Re-Hanging the Judge

An angry grand juror says Lupe Salinas is a victim of kangaroo court justice

The Case of the Missing Case

What good is a review committee that doesn't get to review?