The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
After a five-day sentencing trial, David Risner, a former police officer, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the shooting death of Little River-Academy Police Chief Lee Dixon. Full Story
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A man who sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed a 68-year-old woman during a 1995 burglary in Hidalgo County will no longer face execution after he has been determined to be intellectually disabled. Full Story
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Wiping out the tall stands of Carrizo cane that give drug and human smugglers easy cover along the Rio Grande was deemed a border-security priority by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015, but the program wasn't funded. Full Story
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A Harris County judge has dropped one of the criminal charges against an anti-abortion activist who was indicted after making undercover recordings of a Houston Planned Parenthood facility. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick drew outrage Sunday morning for pre-scheduled social media posts that said "man reaps what he sows" hours after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. The posts had both been removed as of 11 a.m. Sunday. Full Story
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Lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked a federal court to dismiss the federal securities fraud charges against him. Full Story
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The Texas-based judge that earlier this year put a hold on President Obama’s executive order on immigration decided on Tuesday to also suspend a controversial punishment he had recently issued to the administration’s attorneys. Full Story
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Since 1977, prosecutors have said Kerry Max Cook raped, murdered and mutilated Linda Jo Edwards. On Monday, they set aside the conviction following claims of misconduct and DNA evidence tying another man to the crime. Full Story
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A judge has ruled that a West Texas woman convicted of setting her uncle on fire is innocent of murder, basing his decision on new analysis of evidence presented at her 1993 trial. Sonia Cacy has been on parole since 1998. Full Story
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The cases of death row inmates Duane Buck and Bobby James Moore will be heard next term. Full Story
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Four complaints were filed against Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in 2014 involving his campaign finance reports as a state legislator. One investigation has been closed, and Miller says he expects the other three to be dismissed. Full Story
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Attorney General Ken Paxton's office is seeking to silence a former official who claims his bosses nixed a lawsuit in 2010 against Trump University. Full Story
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A coalition of civil and immigrant rights groups on Friday asked an appeals court to stop a federal judge’s order that requires the Obama administration to turn over the confidential information of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Full Story
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An awkward TV interview posted this week by a Waco TV station shows former Baylor University president Ken Starr offering multiple answers to a question about his knowledge of a student's rape allegation. Full Story
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The former head of the Texas attorney general's consumer protection division says it was he — not then-Attorney General Greg Abbott — who decided how the office should investigate Trump University. Full Story
In the Roundup: The state’s attorney general loses his latest bid to have his criminal indictment dismissed, Ken Starr – the now former president of Baylor University – announces plans to resign his role as chancellor and Hillary Clinton declares she could turn Texas blue. Full Story
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Long before Trump University fell in the crosshairs of Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, one of Donald Trump's fellow Republicans drew a bead on the now-defunct school: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Full Story
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A prisoner rights advocate thinks lawmakers should loosen restrictions on medical parole eligibility for sex offenders. A top state lawmaker on criminal justice issues agrees with her but says the issue is just too politically toxic. Full Story
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Immigrant rights groups were handed a significant victory on Wednesday when a Travis County judge ruled that the state temporarily cannot license an immigration detention center as a childcare facility. Full Story
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In El Paso, local leaders hope to create a municipal ID card for the region's homeless, indigent and undocumented. But Gov. Greg Abbott has hinted that could make El Paso a so-called "sanctuary city." Full Story
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