Results tagged “deathpenalty”

So, you've heard the one about the condemned killer who decided he would tell a joke as his final statement? Turns out he wasn't as funny as promised: Just before his execution in Huntsville yesterday, Patrick Knight said death is the biggest joke of all. "I said I was going to tell a joke," he said. "Death has set me free. That's the biggest joke. I deserve this. And the other joke is that I...

Good morning, Houston. We all know there are some perennially bad traffic spots around town — seriously, we all know — and now one of our local traffic nightmares has made Forbes' list of America's worst traffic traps. The spot is the Katy Freeway/West Loop interchange, which Forbes says costs drivers a whopping 25 million-plus hours of delays each year. That makes the 10/610 interchange the second worst in the country, by Forbes' reckoning,...

Jurors in the trial of Bart Whitaker, the Fort Bend County man accused of arranging the murders of his mother and brother so he could get the family inheritance for himself, found Whitaker guilty of capital murder yesterday — meaning that, beginning today, jurors will begin deciding whether Whitaker should die. Whitaker's mother, Patricia, and his brother, Kevin, were killed the evening of Dec. 10, 2003, at home as the family returned from dinner. Whitaker...

Good morning, Houston. Have you ever looked at your pet gerbil and thought, "Y'know, Nibbles really looks like an ibex?" If so, you might consider seeing an eye doctor — or entering the Houston Zoo's Naturally Wild photo contest. The zoo and KTRK are looking for photos of pets that look like wild animals; if yours makes the cut, you could win a family membership to the zoo and a gift card from Petco....

Saturday, Feb 10 + Sunday, Feb 11 VISUAL ARTS Exhibits Opening this week: Justice for All: Artists reflect on the Death Penalty M2 Gallery, 325 West 19th Street, Saturday, Opening Reception @ 7pm Bringing Hope to Houston Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Reading the Movies: Photoplay Editions from the Collection of Stuart Kane Museum of Printing History February 5-April 30, 2007 Exhibits Closing this weekend: Christian Renonciat: The Way of Wood | Gremillion &...

An exhibit which features art that reflects on the death penalty will open at M2 tomorrow evening and be on display until February 18. The Austin Chronicle called the show "nothing short of powerful." The pieces in the exhibit are in all sorts of media and were created by artists from all over the world (including Houston).

In an unusual move yesterday, the judge presiding over a hearing for Juan Quintero, the man accused of shooting HPD Officer Rodney Johnson to death during a Sept. 21 traffic stop, cleared the courtroom and let Quintero choose who his court-appointed lawyer will be.

The legal situation regarding Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant accused of shooting a Houston police officer to death after a traffic stop last week, is shaping up: According to the Chronicle, Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal will put on his prosecutor's hat to lead the case against Quintero. Rosenthal hasn't helped prosecute a case in years, but he said he was moved by a meeting with Officer Rodney Johnson's family. Quintero, meanwhile, remains in...

A new visitation policy at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is rankling some Europeans who make frequent visits to state prisons, the Chronicle reports. The policy, which limits people who travel more than 300 miles to visit a Texas prison to one "special visit" per trip — that's two four-hour sessions on consecutive days — prevents long-distance death penalty opponents from making connections with inmates, they claim, but prison officials say they're just trying to keep some people from taking advantage of the system.

Looks like Ashley Paige Benton, the sweet-natured, Bible-reading teenage girl her lawyer says was forced to stab a 15-year-old boy repeatedly during a gang attack in early June, is finding out murder is kind of a hard thing to deal with: a state district judge ruled Monday that Benton, 16, will stand trial as an adult. In issuing his ruling on the 16-year-old's case, state District Judge Pat Shelton cited the "heinous" nature of the...

The latest in the case of Ashley Paige Benton, the 16-year-old girl charged with murder in the June 6 stabbing death of a teen during a Montrose gang fight: Harris County prosecutors said this morning they will seek to have her tried as an adult. A hearing on whether to certify her as an adult is set for a week from today: [State District Judge Pat] Shelton told Benton this morning that he bases his...

We all heard about the verdict in the Andrea Yates trial yesterday, sure. But now that post-trial interviews are coming out, we're finding out about something else jurors agreed on: Their job was tough.

Texas doctors who provide abortions illegally could be subject to the death penalty because of the way the relevant legislation is put together, reports the Dallas Morning News. The state Attorney General's Office has been asked to clarify a probe that began when the Texas Legislature declared a fetus "an individual" back in 2003. Then, in 2005, it became a criminal act to perform certain abortions (for doctors without the required certification, for example). Therefore, legislators may have accidentally created a situation i which a doctor could be charged with the death of a child younger than age 6--a capital crime in which the death penalty is on the table as a punishment option, according to the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.

You may have heard about the recent rash of executions that have taken place in Texas: Lamont Reese (June 20), Angel Maturino Resendiz (June 27), and Derrick O'Brien (July 11). O'Brien marked the fourteenth execution in Texas so far this year, which is getting near the 2005 grand total of nineteen. Rankings for all states can be found here - Texas is way ahead of the pack at fourteen, where Ohio and South Carolina are...

A pair of bodies found in a northeast Houston field are believed to be those of Maria Chrisalee Aparece and Huy Ngo, who have been missing since Sunday and are believed to have been the vicims of carjackers The Mexican government is opposing the execution of Angel Maturino Resendiz, the "Railroad Killer," saying mentally ill people shouldn't be subject to the death penalty The average price for a gallon of gas in Houston dropped 4...

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman testified yesterday in the highly publicized trial of Max Alexander Soffar, who has served more than 20 years on death row for killing three people in a bowling alley in northwest Houston. Soffar's conviction was eventually overturned, and now defense attorneys hope Friedman's testimony can keep their client out of the electric chair.