Tag Archives: Harris County
Why Doesn’t Texas’ Most Liberal County Have a Public Defender?
Judges and an aggrieved defense bar are derailing talks to build a public defender’s office in Travis County.
Austin is the largest city in the country without a public defender’s office to help represent poor people accused of crimes. In Texas, the only other big cit...Read More
Government Transparency Suffers a Major Setback Thanks to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
The all-Republican court has removed criminal penalties for violating a portion of the state Open Meetings Act.
The windows of Texas government have been tinted even darker thanks to a landmark ruling Wednesday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The nine-member panel...Read More
The Midterms Trigger a Seismic Shift in Harris County’s Courts
Among the Democrats who won all 59 judicial seats at play in the midterms: a socialist and 19 black women running on criminal justice reform.
The Democratic sweep in Harris County Tuesday night could remake one of the largest criminal justice systems in the country. When the blue wave crashed into Hou...Read More
Harris County Clerk Scrubs Soros Conspiracies from Site. Will Other GOP Leaders Follow Suit?
Under pressure, Republican Stan Stanart has dropped his anti-Semitic campaign pitch.
After pushback from media and a top Houston GOP official, Republican Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart scrubbed his re-election website Tuesday night of George S...Read More
Inside Beto’s Plan to Turn Out Black Voters in Houston
Black activists are cautiously optimistic — but it’s a huge challenge for Beto’s grassroots machine to reach the unlikely voters he needs to come out.
Inside Beto’s Plan to Turn Out Black Voters in Houston Black activists are cautiously optimistic — but it’s a huge challenge for Beto’s grassroots machi...Read More
To Chip Away at Dan Patrick’s Power, Dems Need a Crashing Blue Wave in SD 17
During the 2013 legislative session, Joan Huffman, a former Harris County felony court judge and prosecutor, worked to scuttle criminal justice reforms in the T...Read More
After the Flood, the Political Storm?
Democrats in Greater Houston are hoping to tap into the frustrations of residents who are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.
It’s been more than a year since Hurricane Harvey descended upon southeast Texas, damaging more than 200,000 homes and killing at least 88 people. Now, Democr...Read More
A Catch-22 in the Crimmigration System in Harris County
In Houston, a lack of transparency and poor communication between immigration and criminal courts has created a civil rights nightmare and a clog in the system.
Abysmal record-keeping and an increasingly secretive immigration force have created a catch-22 for undocumented defendants accused of low-level crimes in Housto...Read More
In Harris County, the ‘Slow Erosion’ of a System That Keeps People in Jail Because They’re Poor
The case to end cash bail puts Harris County judges and magistrates under a microscope.
The young woman muttered “yeah” when asked if she wanted a court-appointed lawyer. That wasn’t good enough for Harris County magistrate Eric Hagstette, wh...Read More