The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.
Gabriel Hall and James Calvert have joined the 251 other inmates living with death sentences in Texas. See our updated database of these men and women, which you can filter by age, race, sex and length of stay on death row. Full Story
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In the Roundup: Planned Parenthood gets the boot from Texas Medicaid, tensions between George W. Bush and Ted Cruz emerge in news reports, and the state is on track to see a lower number of death sentences handed down in 2015 than it has in decades. Full Story
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Students and guest speakers at a Thursday evening forum lamented what they saw as misperceptions of firearms as they advocated for Texas Christian University to allow concealed firearms on campus. Full Story
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A coalition of immigrants’ rights and civil liberties groups have filed suit claiming Texas hastily created a new type of state license that might allow two controversial detention centers for illegal immigrants to remain open. Full Story
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The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton says he is recusing himself from some of his professional responsibilities as he fights an indictment on securities fraud charges. Full Story
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Texas is on track to see fewer death sentences handed down in 2015 than in any other year since the state’s death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Full Story
The complex and protracted path Scott Panetti's death row case has traveled illustrates how few safeguards Texas has to protect mentally ill killers from being executed. Full Story
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Check out the 2015 Texas Tribune Festival's live recording of the TribCast, featuring our presidential podcast (The Ticket 2016), Reveal (a program from the Center for Investigative Reporting) and some extra special guests. Full Story
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Harris County has politely declined Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to drop its lawsuit against Volkswagen over the carmaker's use of software that allowed its diesel vehicles to skirt emissions limits. Full Story
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Three private colleges — Trinity University, Austin College and Paul Quinn College — likely will opt out of a new state law allowing licensed students to carry concealed guns on campus, their presidents said Saturday. Rice University is still thinking it over. Full Story
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A federal district judge Friday declined to order Texas officials to institute a temporary fix so children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States can get their birth certificates while a lawsuit filed by their parents is being tried. Full Story
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One Texas attorney is helping companies opt out of workers' compensation insurance and write their own rules. What does it mean for injured workers? Full Story
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Campus carry opponents lost their fight to keep guns off of state college and university grounds, so now they're making fun of the people who want to carry guns on campus. With sex toys. The next act in this political theater won't be boring. Full Story
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East Texas inmate Julius Murphy's execution is off the November calendar – for now. The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals on Monday stayed the 36-year-old's execution, after his legal team presented claims of prosecutorial misconduct in his 1998 capital murder trial. Full Story
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In Austin on Monday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn promoted federal legislation that would require mental health checks before denying anyone the ability to purchase firearms. Full Story
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In a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lent his full support to the Childress Police Department, which recently came under fire for displaying the motto "In God We Trust" on its patrol vehicles. Full Story
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Check out "God & Marriage" — part 4 of our "God & Governing" documentary-style series — to see how lawmakers' personal religious beliefs drove the same-sex marriage battle during the 2015 Texas legislative session. Full Story
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Attorneys for East Texas inmate Julius Jerome Murphy, scheduled for execution in early November for killing a stranded motorist, claimed in court papers filed Friday that prosecutors threatened and coerced witnesses to unjustly convict him. Full Story
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick added police safety and jail safety issues, as well as sanctuary cities and veteran benefits to the Senate's to-do list Friday ahead of the next scheduled legislative session in 2017. Full Story
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A federal appeals court has blocked a major Obama administration clean water rule, handing a victory to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other states trying to drown it in court. Full Story
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