3 Ways COVID-19 Makes the Criminal Courts Better

3 Ways COVID-19 Makes the Criminal Courts Better

The rules in place to help end the COVID-19 pandemic have had profound impacts on our lives. We’ve learned new words and phrases like “shelter in place” and “social distancing.” Businesses are closed causing many to lose their jobs. Restaurants are fighting for survival selling take-out, and retail shops are drying up. While the extent of the exact damage is nearly impossible to predict, we are surrounded by constant reminders that our economy is in significant distress. 

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Potting Soil and Quick Dry Cement: Circumstantially Constructed Cases.

Potting Soil and Quick Dry Cement: Circumstantially Constructed Cases.

In Florida this month, Ashley MacArthur was tried and convicted for first degree murder. 33-year-old Taylor Wright’s body was discovered on a 30-acre tract of land owned by the Defendant’s family. The former police officer’s body was buried underneath a concrete slab covered with potting soil. The investigation lead to Ashley MacArthur, a former crime scene technician. Among other pieces of evidence presented by prosecutors was a video of MacArthur buying quick dry concrete and potting soil a day after the victim was missing. Read More

Detective Leavelle Knew Why Jack Ruby Killed Lee Harvey Oswald Because Ruby Told Him

Detective Leavelle Knew Why Jack Ruby Killed Lee Harvey Oswald Because Ruby Told Him

Jim Leavelle survived Pearl Harbor, testified in the “Trial of the Century,” retired a legendary detective, and attained the age of 99. While researching “The Assassin’s Assassin,” the tall man in the light suit wearing the Stetson hat in Bob Jackson’s famous, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph told me all about his experience with Jack Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Today, in his honor, I’ll share that with you.

Top Row: Brandon Birmingham, Walton Bondies, Phil Burleson, Jr., Margaret Bowie Hirschman, John Mark Dempsey, Gina Causey Hibbs, Toby Shook, Kim Wade.
Bottom Row: Alicia Alexander, Bob Huffaker, Jim Leavelle, Waymon Rose, David Rose.

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Victory Demands Unity

Victory Demands Unity

Sport unifies powerfully. Hustle and effort are admired and revered. Cheating is abhorred. The rules apply the same to everyone. We don’t care where our teammates came from, what they believe, or what they stand for because we stand together. Jerseys make skin color invisible. We stand united against attack. We cheer. We applaud. We pick up the fallen. We encourage the mistaken. We all feel the sting of defeat.
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50 Years Ago Today, Tex Watson’s Killing Spree Began

50 Years Ago Today, Tex Watson’s Killing Spree Began

He was tall, handsome, and raised in a religious house. As a youth he worked in his father’s grocery store. He was a star athlete at Farmersville high school in Denton, a Texas state record holder in the hurdles. He pledged Pi Kappa Alpha at UNT. And if he hadn’t hitchhiked down Sunset Blvd. in the summer of 1968, he might never have met Charlie Manson. His name is Charles “Tex” Watson, and 50 years ago today, he began a mission of murder called “Helter Skelter.”

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5 Necessary Components of any Bail Reform measure

An Open Letter to the 2021 Texas Legislature

I watched the 2019 legislature with great hope, convinced that the bipartisan call for meaningful bail reform in Texas would finally be answered. Ultimately, however, it was not. As such, I offer this open letter to 2021 lawmakers addressing why we need bail reform, and how to do it.

Discussing potential changes to the pretrial system at the Dallas County Commissioner’s Court in 2017.

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