Latest news with #TexasCourtofCriminalAppeals
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Paxton Calls For New Law To Protect Texas Elections From Local Corruption
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has called for the State House of Representatives to pass legislation that would allow him to prosecute voter fraud when local officials refuse to do so. Paxton cited a 2021 decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn a law that allowed the attorney general to unilaterally prosecute election cases, instead ruling that a district or county attorney must invite him to work on the case. The attorney general has taken a strong stance against this decision while calling for the legislature, with his office writing in a news release that it 'opened the door for abuse throughout the state.' Paxton also released a statement, writing that 'the system is broken' if the attorney general is not permitted to prosecute voter fraud when local district and county attorneys choose not to. 'We're talking about one of the most fundamental rights we have as Americans—the right to vote. This legislation gives Texas the legal tools to protect the ballot box,' he added. 'Secure elections are the foundation of our system of government, but if a rogue district or county attorney ignores clear evidence of voter fraud, there's nothing we can do about it.' This news release continued by pointing out the issues preventing Paxton from prosecuting voter fraud, noting that one corrupt official could allow voter fraud to persist within a county. Additionally, Paxton noted how local officials could be involved in deep schemes to plan voter fraud, noting that attorney general resources could be required to truly uncover the full depth of the alleged crimes. 'Concurring with the Senate Substitute for HB 5138 is the best opportunity to provide meaningful reform so that Texans can have full confidence in the integrity of their elections,' concluded the release. This information from Paxton's office comes as the Lone Star State continues to evaluate ways to improve voter integrity, including the potential for allowing only U.S. citizens to vote in state elections, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. These concerts have also spilled into Dallas within recent months, with Former Texas House of Representatives candidate Barry Wernick filing a complaint against the Dallas County Elections Department. Wenrick alleged that Dallas County's 'sample ballots' were not actually samples but the real ballots being used in the election, which included both candidate names and Dallas Elections Administrator Heider Garcia's signature, as reported by DX.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas AG Paxton would get expanded powers to target elections under new law
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) would gain the right to investigate elections in Democratic districts under a new bill passed by the Texas Senate on Tuesday. H.B. 5138 now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) desk, where it joins H.B. 45, which gives Paxton broad new powers to fight 'human trafficking.' Put together, the new bills would give his office the ability to investigate alleged trafficking or election fraud in any jurisdictions — regardless of the wishes of local communities or the elected district or county attorney. Paxton has long used allegations of human trafficking to target nonprofit groups that provide aid to recent migrants. If Abbott signs the elections bill, Paxton — who has announced his intentions to primary incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) next year — would get new powers to prosecute alleged election crimes anywhere in the state, something state courts have denied him. In 2021, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) ruled that Paxton could only get involved in local elections if asked to by a district or county attorney, as The Texas Tribune reported, a ruling that Abbott explicitly criticized last year. That ruling created a structural problem, however, for the faction of Texas Republicans, including Paxton, that has long insisted election fraud is rife in Texas's Democrat-run jurisdictions. That didn't stop Paxton's office from raiding Democratic activists — and the candidate herself — during last year's race for a tightly contested state House district after the Democratic incumbent stepped down. The Republican in that race, former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, ultimately won in a campaign that cited Paxton's investigation into his opponent, Cecilia Castellanos, as evidence of her malfeasance. Up until Tuesday's bill passage, however, the attorney general's ability to investigate local candidates like Castellanos was limited to those jurisdictions where he could find a district or county attorney to partner with — a requirement that H.B. 5138 would free him of. Paxton has long conflated migration and election fraud. In one notable case from last year's election, Paxton insisted Democrats had secret plans to 'illegally register noncitizens to vote in our elections,' a claim that originated in a friend-of-a-friend story on Fox News that local Republican county officials later debunked. Democrats' plan was to 'tell the cartels, 'Get people here as fast as possible, as many as possible, we're not going to make them hide anymore — we'll get them placed in the right states,'' Paxton told conservative talk show host Glenn Beck last year. 'They want to fix the election so that we have a one-party country that we can't fix.' During last year's election, Paxton also sued Bexar and Harris counties, two of the state's largest Democratic strongholds, for a voter registration drive that he claimed aimed to register noncitizens to vote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Petition filed with highest Texas court to reinstate Staley's capital murder conviction
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Prosecutors have filed a petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, asking the court to reinstate the capital murder conviction of James Staley for the 2018 death of 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel. James Irvin Staley, III, 42, of Wichita Falls was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole nearly two years ago, on March 13, 2023. He's been serving that sentence in Amarillo's Bill Clemens Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. EXPLAINER: Why James Staley's capital murder conviction was reversed On March 6, 2025, almost a year after Staley's appeal was submitted, the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial. John Gillespie, Wichita County District Attorney, said he disagreed with the Second Court of Appeals' decision and that he intended to fight it. On May 5, 2025, prosecutors filed a petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in Texas, requesting a discretionary review of the appellate court's decision and asking for Staley's conviction to be reinstated. According to Staley's appellate brief, filed by high-profile appellate attorney Keith Hampton, the case for an appeal of his conviction stemmed from a failure by the Wichita Falls Police Department to produce an adequate search warrant or affidavit to obtain such. As a result of that affidavit, several devices were seized from Staley's home almost two weeks after Wilder's death, including Staley's cell phone and a Mac Mini computer. PREVIOUS STORY: James Staley's capital murder conviction reversed on appeal According to Hampton, who argued the appellate case on March 12, 2024, the video never should have been admitted into evidence because it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. According to the Second Court of Appeal's memorandum opinion, the appellate justices agreed with Staley, adding that they couldn't determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence admitted as a result of that warrant wasn't a factor in the deliberation of the Tarrant County jury. According to the prosecution's petition for a discretionary review, case law has been 'overextended' by intermediate courts, and because of this, those courts have 'reached erratic decisions.' Prosecutors argued that Staley's case 'presents another pressing need for clarification' regarding search warrants, and whether or not they should 'account for expanded fair probabilities for household homicides.' 'The court of appeals' disregard of these broadened probabilities, recognized by Massachusetts in a similar case, threatens law enforcement's ability to obtain this critical evidence,' the petition said. 'The frequency of relationship-based homicides makes this an important issue.' READ MORE: James Staley's appeal submitted after oral arguments The prosecution argued in its petition that probable cause 'depends on probabilities, not certainties,' and that a fair probability of finding such evidence on items, like electronic devices seized from Staley's home, amounts to probable cause. According to the petition, this is due in part to the fact that Wilder McDaniel was found dead inside Staley's home, where he had been staying with his mother, Amber McDaniel, and that there was a 'pre-existing fraught relationship between the defendant and victim.' In its petition for a discretionary review, the prosecution also alleged that the appellate court disregarded a precedent set by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals based on a previous decision in the case of Holder v. State. The petition said that, according to the Holder decision, a trial court finding that evidence admitted during trial, even if the warrant lacked probable cause, would mean that the evidence is still admissible under federal law. 'The intermediate court's failure to follow Holder created conflict among the courts of appeals,' the petition said. ' This failure also led to the improper reversal of Appellant's capital murder conviction.' According to the prosecution's petition, the Second Court of Appeals failed to consider any of the evidence admitted during Staley's trial that was legally obtained. READ MORE: James Staley appeal calls key trial evidence unconstitutional The prosecution claimed that the Second Court of Appeals reversed Staley's conviction due to the videos that were admitted into evidence, including a video of Staley slapping the child with full force, but didn't take into account the remaining evidence, or whether or not the 'Slap Video' was any more or less incriminating than the other evidence. The petition claimed that 'the case described in the opinion' given by the Second Court of Appeals 'was unrecognizable from the multi-week capital murder case actually tried.' The prosecution asserted that 'overwhelming evidence independent of the video showed that only [James Staley] could have killed Wilder,' calling the evidence admitted in the trial outside of the 'Slap Video' was 'not merely cumulative but overwhelming.' The prosecution's petition ended with a plea for the highest criminal court in Texas to reverse the decision of the Second Court of Appeals, to 'conduct its own review, hold any error was harmless, and reinstate the conviction.' According to courthouse officials, it may take anywhere between a month and six months before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decides whether or not to grant the petition. If the petition is granted, both Staley's defense and prosecutors will then submit another brief to the highest court in Texas. Prosecutors have also requested that they be able to present oral arguments to the court. WATCH: Wichita County District Attorney John Gillespie talks James Staley trial Previously, Gillespie indicated that even if the petition is not granted, and Staley's conviction is not reinstated, he's not done fighting. 'If we cannot get the conviction reinstated, then we'll try the case again and get him a second time,' Gillespie said. 'I've only begun to fight.' Staley will remain incarcerated at the Clemens Unit while the petition is pending, according to courthouse 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Texas man convicted of killing ex-classmate set to be executed
Death row inmate Moises Mendoza, 41, convicted of murdering a former high school classmate in 2004, is scheduled to be the third man executed by Texas this year. Mendoza confessed to the killing of 20-year-old Rachelle Tolleson in a small town outside of Dallas before his 2005 trial. According to court documents, Mendoza took Tolleson from her home, where she was alone with her 5-month-old daughter, and sexually assaulted the woman before killing her and leaving her body in a field. Mendoza later moved Tolleson's body to a more remote location and burned it, where a man found it six days later, according to court records. Mendoza has contested the sexual assault, claiming Tolleson left willingly with him, however, he did admit to killing her. Mendoza's lawyers have filed several appeals, including one to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, alleging prosecutors had used false testimony during Mendoza's sentencing to convince jurors he would be violent while incarcerated. Those appeals were struck down April 15. Mendoza's lawyers subsequently filed for a judicial review of the Texas court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as a stay of execution. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed a responding brief with the Supreme Court, claiming a previous ruling from a federal district court in Mendoza's case already found his appeals meritless. A clemency request from Mendoza also was denied by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday. The Supreme Court previously heard another Texas death row inmate's case in February, as Ruben Guiterrez seeks to be able to sue prosecutors to test DNA on evidence he says will prove his innocence. A ruling is expected in his case in the coming weeks. If Mendoza's appeals fail, he would be Texas' third execution this year. Inmates Steven Nelson and Richard Tabler were put to death in February. In March, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for David Wood and a federal appeals court tossed Brittany Holberg's death sentence because prosecutors did not disclose the primary trial witness was a paid informant. The judge who presided over the case of death row inmate Melissa Lucio also recommended in 2024 that her sentence and conviction be overturned after the district attorney's office who prosecuted her admitted they withheld evidence. Texas currently only has one other execution scheduled. Matthew Johnson, whose execution is set for May 20, was convicted of killing a Garland convenience store employee by setting them on fire. The Supreme Court declined to hear Johnson's case in 2024. If no other executions are scheduled and carried out, it will be the seventh year in a row since Texas has executed less than 10 people, a continued slowdown after a record number of executions 20 years ago. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Frustration grows as convicted 'Desert Killer" David Wood granted stay of execution
Marcia Fulton couldn't mask her frustration last week as she discussed the stay of execution of the man convicted of killing her daughter and five other victims buried in a Northeast El Paso desert. "I just couldn't even imagine having this (execution stayed) happen again a second time," said Fulton, the mother of 15-year-old Desiree Wheatley. "I just knew it was going to go through this time because they had all these years in between them." David Leonard Wood, 67, known as the convicted "Desert Killer," was set to be executed Thursday, March 13, but less than 48 hours before the state of Texas was to kill him, the state's highest appeals court granted a stay of execution. This was the second time Wood's life was saved hours before he was set to be executed. In 2009, the same appeals court granted a stay just 24 hours before his scheduled execution over an appeal claiming Wood was mentally impaired. The appeal was later denied. Since the latest stay was granted, Fulton is forced to continue her wait for her 37-year nightmare to end. She is hoping it will not take another 15 years between execution dates. More: 'It's been long enough': Victims' families anxious as 'Desert Killer' execution date nears "I just don't understand how this could happen twice," Fulton said. "They keep saying they got new information. No they don't. They've got the same information they had 37 years ago." Once again, Fulton, who has recently been struggling with serious health issues, finds her life in limbo. She made a vow to witness Wood pay for killing her daughter with his own life. The latest information the distraught mother has received from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was at least eight appeals have been filed in the case. Texas Attorney General's Office prosecutors and defense attorneys will now have to review the appeals and file responses. They then wait for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the highest appeals court in Texas — to decide what the next steps will be. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and Texas Eighth District Court of Appeals court records, as of Friday, March 14, do not show any appeals having been filed since the stay of execution. Fulton was told it could take up to two weeks before she could get an update on the case. The Texas Attorney General's Office and Rachel Patton, assistant attorney general prosecuting the case, did not respond to requests for comment or issue any kind of public response on behalf of the victims to the court's stay of execution. A Democrat, Dan Morales, was the Texas attorney general when Wood's death penalty case went to trial in 1992. Wood's execution has languished in the state's court system during John Cornyn, Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton's terms as AG. Patton has been an assistant AG since 2017. Gregory W. Wiercioch, Wood's attorney, could not be reached for comment. El Paso police began discovering the bodies of six women and girls in 1987. The girls had all been reported missing shortly after Wood was released from prison on a sexual assault conviction. The victims were found in shallow graves in Northeast El Paso. The victims found were Wheatley, 15, Ivy Susanna Williams, 23, Rosa Maria Casio, 24, Karen Baker, 20, Angelica Frausto, 17, and Dawn Marie Smith, 14, were found in shallow graves in a desert area in Northeast El Paso. All of the girls were last seen with Wood. Three other missing victims — Marjorie Knox, 14, Cheryl Vasquez-Dismukes, 19, and Melissa Alaniz, 12, — connected to Wood were never found. Wood was convicted of murder by a jury Nov. 10, 1992, in the slaying of Williams. Under the Texas Penal Code's serial-killing provision, the killings of the other five girls were added on to the conviction because Wood was found to have used 'the same scheme and course of conduct" in those cases, court documents state. Wood has maintained his innocence for nearly 40 years, claiming state prosecutors used unreliable evidence to get the conviction and death sentence. More: 'I pray every day for her': Remembering 'Desert Killer' David Wood's victims Wood and his attorney have repeatedly asked the Texas Attorney General's Office to conduct DNA testing on hundreds of pieces of evidence found at the victims' grave sites. Only three pieces of DNA evidence were used during Wood's 1992 trial. An appeals court granted the retesting on the three items in 2010. The results on two of the items were inconclusive, but a blood stain on Smith's dress revealed male DNA. The test results excluded Wood as a possible donor. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not state in their ruling why the execution was stayed. It took 15 years between Wood's 2009 execution stay to when he was scheduled for execution again. Fulton hopes it won't be another 15 years. "They (Wood and his attorney) are playing a game,"Fulton said. "But I am not going anywhere. As I have said before, it is the criminal justice system, not a victims' justice system. Victims continue to be victimized." Prominent El Paso attorney Sergio Saldivar, who has handled major murder and violent crime cases in federal and state courts throughout Texas, said death penalty appeals can take years to reach a conclusion. However, he does not believe it could take a decade for this latest round of appeals. "It's been nearly 40 years and it appears he's at the tail end of his appeals," Saldivar said. "I don't anticipate it will take much longer on a decision. But it depends on how the justices see the issues at appeal and how complex they believe those issues are, or how meaningful they are. If it is deemed a complex issue then it could take years, but in my opinion and for what I know about this case, he's already at the tail end of it." More: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halts execution of death row inmate David Leonard Wood Saldivar is not connected to Wood's case. He spoke to the El Paso Times generally about public information already reported on the case and the general appeals process when it comes to similar cases. "Cases like these are hard to try again," Saldivar said. "Time is not on anyone's side. It's been 40 years. Key witnesses have probably died. Do the witnesses still around even have a good recollection of what happened in the late 1980s? How has the evidence been handled over this period of time? Who has handled it? Is there anything even left to test for DNA? How accurate would a DNA test be on items collected four decades ago?" Retrying the case presents dozens of legal issues, Saldivar said. All of these issues and more will come up if the case is retried. "Those issues and a lot more will come up if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decides to have the case retried," Saldivar said. "Again, time is not on anyone's side in this case, maybe the length of time is more helpful for the defense since they get to bring up all these issues. And these issues will need to be addressed at any retrial." After reviewing the appeals, the justices are left with three main options — affirm the appeal, deny the appeal or remand it back to trial for a retrial. More: Texas Death Row inmate David Wood: Timeline of convicted serial killer set for execution "If they deny the appeals, the defendant would go back to death row and wait for an execution date to be set," Saldivar said. "The Texas Department of Criminal Justice would probably prioritize this execution given the amount of time this case has been pending. If the justices decide to uphold the appeals, they could ordered the case back to state court for retrial." Death penalty cases deserve all the time and attention to make sure a possibly innocent person is not killed, Saldivar said. "Of course, nobody wants to see an innocent person executed," Saldivar said. "But you have to remember peers in his community heard all the testimony presented during the trial. They saw the evidence when it was fresh, they heard from the witnesses, they got all the information presented by both defense lawyers and prosecutors. Those jurors were the best ones to judge this case and they decided he deserved death. Their verdict should be respected." Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@ or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: David Wood's stay of execution halts 37-year-old serial murder case
