A Tarrant County grand jury has indicted former Texas Rangers star outfielder Josh Hamilton for injury to a child causing intentional bodily injury, a third-degree felony, the Observer confirmed Wednesday afternoon. Hamilton is accused of attacking his oldest daughter in September. He turned himself in after initially being charged in late…
Three and a half years after stepping down as chief of the Dallas Police Department, David Brown has been named to lead Chicago’s police force. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Brown’s selection Thursday afternoon. “We are Chicago and we deserve the best,” Lightfoot said. “In this time, in this moment,…
A Dallas County grand jury has indicted two Dallas County Sheriff’s Office deputies who are accused of looting a Home Depot on Forest Lane in Dallas following the Oct. 20 tornado that destroyed the home improvement store and much of the surrounding area. Owners of the Home Depot hired Sgt. Rebecca…
Hats off, thank you, sincere gratitude, honest admiration, respect and kudos to WFAA Channel 8 for admitting publicly they were totally full of it Nov. 15 in their story about the famous notorious car wash on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Dallas. WFAA reporters David Goins and David…
A Dallas County jury found Desmond Jones guilty Friday afternoon of engaging in criminal activity, a first-degree felony, for his role in the kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Shavon Randle in 2017. The jury deliberated for about three hours. According to prosecution witnesses, Jones and a trio of associates —…
Shaquana Persley, Shavon Randle’s mother, told jurors Thursday that her daughter had just celebrated her 13th birthday with a hotel pool party, two days before she was kidnapped, shot and killed in an alleged post-drug robbery revenge plot. “They had some fun,” Persley said, smiling as she remembered her daughter,…
It may be a small step, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is putting a little of his money where his mouth is on criminal justice reform. Thursday afternoon, the governor announced a specialized clemency application process for Texas Department of Corrections inmates who were victims of sex trafficking or domestic…
A little over a year ago, The Dallas Morning News hired a new editorial page editor, Brendan Miniter, from the (George W.) Bush Presidential Center (Library) in Dallas. Ever since, the page has been embarrassing. And I guess it would be fair to wonder who is embarrassed. Clearly not the…
David Brown, the former Dallas police chief, is one of a handful of candidates being seriously considered to be Chicago’s next top cop, the Tribune reported on Thursday. The Chicago Police Board is reviewing candidates and will select three to forward to the mayor. Other top prospects include a deputy…
A former Dallas Police Department officer was found not guilty Thursday of charges related to a 2017 shooting in which he killed a woman at an Old East Dallas apartment complex. After deliberating for two days, a Dallas County jury acquitted Christopher Hess, 42, of a single count of aggravated…
Last week an attorney for indicted Dallas housing developer Ruel Hamilton filed a federal court document (see below) describing “outrageous government conduct” by FBI agents going after Hamilton. Outrageous government conduct is a legal term. But let me tell you what’s outrageous to me as a non-lawyer. I’ve been out…
The document by which Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall announced the outcomes of a two-year crooked-cop investigation of the vice squad reads like it was written by Joseph Heller, the guy who wrote Catch-22. Only Heller was funny. The memo made public a week ago makes Hall look far worse…
When a centuries-old bronze statue now on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art was stolen from a Hindu temple in Nepal 36 years ago, it became one of hundreds of ancient cultural artifacts that have been illegally removed from the country over the last six decades. Since the 1950s,…
The Dallas Police Department’s multi-year investigation into its Vice Unit is over, the department announced Wednesday. Twenty-two officers have been disciplined, according to DPD Chief Renee Hall, and face punishments ranging from a written reprimand to suspension. The department did not fire any officers, and no officers were charged with…
Newly released documents paint a disturbing picture of the incident that lead to the arrest of a Dallas County Sheriff’s Department deputy Thursday evening. Deputy Austin Palmer is charged with assault causing bodily injury and official oppression, both Class A misdemeanors, after he allegedly tased and threatened a handcuffed man…
Study after study blames violence and social dysfunction in poor, racially segregated neighborhoods on a roster of causes, from extreme poverty to environmental pollution to segregation itself, but the elected leadership of old South Dallas has insisted for 15 years that their crime problems are caused by a car wash…
This year, as in past years, the Dallas Police Department asked revelers to refrain from celebratory gunfire because it’s illegal, dangerous and punishable by a fine and jail time. But, between 10:00 p.m. December 31, 2019 and 2:00 a.m. January 1, 2020, DPD recorded 933 calls reporting random gunfire – 16 more than during the same period last New Year’s Eve.
Dallas County Sheriff’s Deputy Latorrez Jones gently smooths his dog Hawk’s ears and chest fur. Hawk’s jaws lock firmly on the thick burlap arm guard wrapped around Deputy Kevin Ross’ arm. As Ross pulls back, simulating an attempt to escape, Hawk’s grip holds steady. He’s been trained to bite once,…
It was quite a year for the Dallas police. The city recorded 200 murders, the most in over a decade. The governor sent state troopers to South Dallas amid complaints that the city’s police department is understaffed, drawing accusations of overpolicing from local community leaders. Not to mention the conviction…
Aaron Dean, the former Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed a black woman in her home, was indicted by a grand jury for murder on Friday morning. Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew in October when a neighbor called a non-emergency police hotline…
I learned this week in a piece by Shawn Shinneman at D Magazine that the city of Dallas is paying lawyers to sue the Texas Attorney General in district court in Austin to get out of turning over Mayor Eric Johnson’s daily calendar. Let me just run that by you…
When I read an op-ed piece in The New York Times last week by William H. Webster (the only person ever to have been director of both the FBI and then the CIA), I wanted to believe every word, because essentially he was calling President Donald Trump an idiot, which…
