U.S. District Court

Daniel Duplaisir: Guilty Plea in A&M Prof's Extortion Case

Daniel Duplaisir pleaded guilty to one count of extortion today, admitting in federal court that he pretended to be a 16-year-old girl during sexually explicit online chats with a Texas A&M professor who later threw himself off a parking garage roof. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes scheduled s ... More >>

More Than 500 Indians Abused by Human Trafficking, Lawyer Says

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina not only almost destroyed New Orleans and wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast. The hurricane may also have opened the door for human trafficking for one company, according to lawsuits filed in Texas and Mississippi on Tuesday. The swathe of destruction Hurricane Katrina cut ... More >>

Open Season: Do Laws Against Animal Crushing Videos Violate Free Speech?

Ashley Nicole Richards, who filmed herself torturing and killing kittens, puppies, cats and dogs, was the first person brought up on revised federal crush-video charges -- which backfired magnificently.

Cover Story: Federal Animal "Crush" Law Tested in Houston

In December 2012, two Houstonians became the first defendants charged under the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010, which criminalizes the production and distribution of images of animal cruelty. Ashley Nicole Richards and Brent Wayne Justice were originally charged in Harris County Distric ... More >>

Pradaxa Lawsuits Consolidated in Beautiful East St. Louis, Illinois

Families suing the maker of anti-clotting drug Pradaxa will have their cases consolidated in an East St. Louis, Illinois, court -- a decision the Texas-based law firm leading the suits is calling a coup. Pradaxa hit the U.S. market in 2010, hailed by manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim as a major le ... More >>

Hate-Crime-Guilty White Supremacists -- One Who "Only Hates the Dallas Cowboys" -- Sentenced For Attacking a Black Male at a Bus Stop

The three dudes who united over their white-power tattoos and then beat down a random black male at a downtown Houston bus stop are bound for federal prison. On Monday at the downtown Houston federal courthouse, Charles Cannon, Michael McLaughlin and Brian Kerstetter were sentenced to 2-1/2 to 6-1/ ... More >>

Intertek Oil and Gas Workers Screwed Out of Moolah, Says Lawsuit

Local oil, gas and chemical inspectors have been getting jipped out of overtime wages, according to a collective action lawsuit that was recently granted approval by a judge in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas. According to the suit, employees for Houston-based Intertek USA ... More >>

Crossing The Line: Days of Rage

The U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama leave the undocumented and their allies no choice but to escalate civil disobedience.

Archie Bell Sues Legendary "Philly Soul" Duo Gamble & Huff

Marc BrubakerArchie Bell at the Continental Club, September 3​In certainly one of the more interesting local items to come in over courthouse.com, a Web site that reports on notable, unusual or legally significant filings in the federal courts, Houston songwriter and performer Archie Bell has ... More >>

Roger Clemens Ordered to Face Trial Again

Your favorite Astro, back in court.​In a not too surprising development, U.S. District Court Judge Reginald Walton ruled earlier this afternoon, after a morning of oral arguments, that double jeopardy did not attach during the aborted Roger Clemens trial earlier this summer. As a result, the ... More >>

Company Brings in Guy in a Gorilla Suit to Celebrate Juneteenth, Lawsuit Claims

Employees to Carey: Slow your roll.​Here in post-racial America, where having a black president gives Americans a carte blanche to throw political and humane correctness to the wind, race is something to be joked about at all times. It's Juneteenth, the day reserved to celebrate the end of sla ... More >>

Lucas Henderson, Student from Waco, Allegedly Scams Scores of Companies with Illegal Coupons

From The Smoking Gun22-year-old Lucas Henderson allegedly used his computer powers for evil.​There's been a rash of South-on-East-Coast fraud lately, in which residents from small Texas towns have effectively duped fancy New York firms. Remember April's scamster of the month Andy Surface, the ... More >>

Stephen Jabbour, Mark Tilford: Kiddie Porn Cases Face Two Prominent South Texas Lawyers

Stephen Jabbour and Bill Clinton​What is going on with these prominent, middle-aged lawyers in the Texas Coastal Bend and their kiddie porn? Just last week, one got sentenced to federal prison, and it seems another is likely to follow. Last Friday, 57-year-old Stephen Jabbour, the former chai ... More >>

Cloaked Brutality

The feds bury border patrol abuses of immigrants, but what’s been unearthed reveals a culture of cruelty.

Willie D Gets A Year And A Day In Federal Pen For Wire Fraud

​Former Geto Boy Willie D, aka William Dennis, has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on wire fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of Texas announced today. Judge Gray Miller also ordered Willie D to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution to the buy ... More >>

Workplace speech and Aztec ancestors

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

For 40 years, the Episcopal Church of Texas turned a blind eye to a priest who was sexually molesting male students.

Miguel Tejada Offers Scant Contrition, Scurries Away Like Scalded Dog

Photo by lisaschafferphotoThere there, little soldier. Miguel Tejada faced the press yesterday and took the coward's way out. Crying and stumbling over his words, Tejada confessed his sorrow for not telling Congressional investigators that he knew of another player that took steroids. Tejada and h ... More >>

Roger Clemens vs. Brian McNamee: Dismissed (Mostly)

Photo by ToFuGunsSrsly. As happened so many times in his career, when it came to clutch time, Roger Clemens has failed to deliver. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison today dismissed most of Roger Clemens' defamation suit against Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer. Ellison partially dism ... More >>

Roger Clemens vs. Brian McNamee: Dismissed (Mostly)

Photo by ToFuGunsSrsly. As happened so many times in his career, when it came to clutch time, Roger Clemens has failed to deliver. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison today dismissed most of Roger Clemens' defamation suit against Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer. Ellison partially dism ... More >>

Miguel Tejada Offers Scant Contrition, Scurries Away Like Scalded Dog

Photo by lisaschafferphotoThere there, little soldier. Miguel Tejada faced the press yesterday and took the coward's way out. Crying and stumbling over his words, Tejada confessed his sorrow for not telling Congressional investigators that he knew of another player that took steroids. Tejada and h ... More >>

Miguel Tejada Expected to Plead Guilty of Perjury; A-Rod Still a Scapegoat

At ten o'clock this morning, a federal prosecutor and Miguel Tejada will appear in front of a U.S. District Court judge and a six-page criminal information will be entered before the Court. It is expected that, at that time, Tejada will plead guilty to lying before Congress. It is thought that t ... More >>

Miguel Tejada Expected to Plead Guilty of Perjury; A-Rod Still a Scapegoat

At ten o'clock this morning, a federal prosecutor and Miguel Tejada will appear in front of a U.S. District Court judge and a six-page criminal information will be entered before the Court. It is expected that, at that time, Tejada will plead guilty to lying before Congress. It is thought that t ... More >>

A-Rod's Steroid Bust: How It Really Went Down

Alex Rodriguez did an Andy Pettitte yesterday and admitted to taking steroids. Though he wasn't facing any legal jeopardy, it's probably for the best that he did this as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Andy Pettitte were all able to easily go on with their careers after their admissions whereas w ... More >>

This Just In: Miguel Tejada Charged With Lying to Congress About the Steroids

It's just now being reported that charges are being brought against Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada for lying to Congress. Details are still slight and sketchy, so it's not known if it's a full-on perjury charge, or if they're getting at him for interfering with the investigation. Tejad ... More >>

This Just In: Miguel Tejada Charged With Lying to Congress About the Steroids

It's just now being reported that charges are being brought against Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada for lying to Congress. Details are still slight and sketchy, so it's not known if it's a full-on perjury charge, or if they're getting at him for interfering with the investigation. Tejad ... More >>

A-Rod's Steroid Bust: How It Really Went Down

Alex Rodriguez did an Andy Pettitte yesterday and admitted to taking steroids. Though he wasn't facing any legal jeopardy, it's probably for the best that he did this as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Andy Pettitte were all able to easily go on with their careers after their admissions whereas w ... More >>

Parish Predators: Trial Set in Molestation Case Against the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Gang Lite?

A new kind of gang in Texas and Houston promises protection but no lifelong commitment

Litton Loan Litigants Granted Class Status (say that five times fast)

Critics question realtor Wayne Stroman's timeshare resale business

The Getaway

But the Big Game Was On...

Horse Flesh

Texas struggles with what to do with its overabundance of Equus caballus, while Europeans wait with open mouths

Ship Wrecked

A Houston firm certified the oil tanker Prestige as good to go. It broke apart in the Atlantic, causing the worst environmental disaster in Spanish history.

When Online Got Off Base

Or: How Mark Cuban would have--and could have?--saved the music biz

Getting Stomped

Texas boasts the soil, the climate and the grapes for a strong wine industry. So what stands in its way? Bad taste and politicians.

Custody Battle

Marvel Comics isn't going to give up Captain America without a fight

This Bud's for John

John McCain's family

Downing

Brentwood's protests have given way to a calmer acceptance of AIDS patients living there

"Think" Not

A Texas housewife/songwriter claims country hunk Collin Raye stole her song

Trading with the Enemy

Houston oil companies maintain their profitable ties to Libya, in roundabout ways

Static

Tales From the IRS

Three stories of taxman terror

Situational Ethics

As Jew Don Boney has moved upward in public life, have his values changed to meet his needs rather than those of his constituents?

The Right Kind of People

Ken Schnitzer gets off -- with a little help from his friends

Helpless Hands

GCCS was supposed to help the poor. But after letting $15 million in anti-poverty funds slip away, the question is whether it can help anyone -- even itself.

Hard Habit to Break

M.D. Anderson just can't say no to research funding from the tobacco industry

Out of the Soup

Yes, the city's settlement of a lawsuit was a good deal -- for Helen Huey

The fight to save the Katy Prairie

How many winters more will Arctic waterfowl make their 10,000-year-old journey to the western edge of Houston?