Observer Contributor Named Finalist for Frisco Police Chief

Two high-ranking and long-serving members of the Dallas Police Department are finalists for the top job at the Frisco Police Department, Frisco announced Wednesday. DPD Executive Assistant Chief David Pughes and DPD Major and acting Deputy Chief Max Geron are joined by Frisco Deputy Chief David Shilson on the short…

Nashville Man Arrested at Gas Station Claims He’s Mark Cuban

Mark Washington tried to make the best of a bad night in downtown Nashville Tuesday night. Confronted by Nashville police in a Shell station at which he’d been arrested multiple times for refusing to leave, Washington decided to try on a new identity. According to WKRN-TV, Washington told police officers…

Amber Guyger Sentenced to 10 Years In Prison

Following less than two hours of deliberation Wednesday afternoon, a Dallas County jury sentenced former Dallas Police Department officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison for the murder of Botham Jean. Guyger killed Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, after she entered his apartment in the Cedars, believing it was her…

Activists Call for Resignation, Firing of DPA President Mike Mata

Protesters gathered outside the Dallas Police Association building near sunset Friday, holding signs reading “Mata Gotta Go” and “Resign Mata,” calling for the firing of the DPA president. The activists say Mike Mata broke police protocol after one of the department’s former officers, Amber Guyger, shot and killed Botham Jean,…

Guyger Trial, Day 2: Body Cams and 911 Call

The second day of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger’s murder trial focused on the 911 call Guyger placed after shooting Botham Jean and body camera footage from the Dallas Police Department officers who responded to the scene. First on the stand was the 911 dispatcher who answered the call…

Amber Guyger’s Love Life Takes Center Stage on First Day of Murder Trial

A single phone call made all the difference the night former Dallas Police Department officer Amber Guyger shot and killed Botham Jean, Assistant Dallas County District Attorney Jason Hermus said Monday during opening statements in Guyger’s murder trial. Before it, Hermus said, Guyger was having a normal commute home from…

Dallas Cops on Trial: A Recent History

For decades, Dallas cops didn’t go on trial. From 1973, when a Travis County jury convicted Dallas Police Department Officer Darrell Cain of murder after Cain shot 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez in the head in the back of a patrol car during an interrogation, to April 2014, when a Dallas County…

Amber Guyger Murder Trial May Not Fit Convenient Journalistic Categories

So far The Dallas Morning News podcast on the Botham Jean/Amber Guyger murder trial has all the stylish podcast elements — spooky theme music, random sound bites, breathy voice-overs — with the exception of one big one. Suspense. In the best podcasts I have listened to (“Buried,” the disappearance of Carey Mae Parker), you…

Dallas-Based Man Charged With Running Large-Scale Human Trafficking Ring

Federal officials announced Wednesday that they’ve arrested a Dallas-based man on sex trafficking charges. Tremont Blakemore may have trafficked hundreds of victims, according to the feds, keeping them under his control through violence, intimidation and frequent threats. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s investigations arm began looking into Blakemore in…

Special Prosecutor to Handle Deep Ellum Bartender Assault Case

The case of Austin Shuffield, the bartender accused of a brutal, caught-on-video assault in Deep Ellum this spring, will move forward without the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. “Due to the bias the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office has shown in the prosecution of this case, the defense filed a…