Politics & Policy
September 15, 2023
The Science Used to Send Him to Death Row Has Changed. The Courts Haven’t Yet Caught Up.
Robert Roberson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to examine “shaken baby syndrome” and the state of forensic science.
Criminal Justice
Politics & Policy
September 11, 2023
Amber Alerts Are Often Ineffective. A New Law Gives Local Police More Control.
Delays in dispatching the alert system mean that some children fall between the cracks.
Politics & Policy
August 14, 2023
When It Comes to People Behind Bars, Texas Is Way Ahead
We keep putting convicts away. And lawmakers want those numbers to rise.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
August 9, 2023
She Got 99 Years in Prison for a Crime She Didn’t Commit. Nearly 20 Years Later, Rosa Jimenez Has Been Exonerated.
The new grandmother, in need of a new kidney, says all she wants is a normal life.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
July 24, 2023
Two Teens Terrorized a Black Classmate on Video. Now One Has Pleaded to a Hate Crime Enhancement.
The second teen has pleaded to criminal mischief charges. Both face two years of probation.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Stephenville
July 18, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 6: ‘Hatley’
On the series finale, a killer builds his new life on borrowed time, and people in Stephenville must confront a difficult truth.
Stephenville
July 11, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 5: Scott
In his own words, the man who killed Susan Woods looks back on the choices he says led him to become a "monster."
Stephenville
July 4, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 4: Shannon
A 16-year-old assault survivor tells investigators of her attacker's chilling confession.
Stephenville
June 27, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 3: Don
Armed with new forensic technology, Don Miller takes up the case and gets a break — one that raises even more questions about what happened to Susan Woods.
Stephenville
June 20, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 2: Michael
One thousand miles from Stephenville, a cloud of suspicion settles over one man.
Stephenville
June 20, 2023
Stephenville, Episode 1: Susan
In the first episode of the Texas Monthly true crime podcast, a father makes a tragic discovery, and an investigator gets to work.
Press Room
May 31, 2023
American Bar Association Honors Texas Monthly With Silver Gavel Award
Executive editor Michael Hall’s piece on the Fifth Circuit was nominated for the prestigious award back in March.
Sponsored
May 25, 2023
Episode 7: “Sssshh” with Elizabeth Olsen, Lesli Linka Glatter & Michael Hall
Host Nancy Miller sits down with Elizabeth Olsen in the final episode of the series to take a deeper look at who Candy Montgomery was in the aftermath of her trial.
Being Texan
May 23, 2023
Got an Unsolved Murder? Call the Cold Case Club
In Fort Worth, true crime–obsessed citizen detectives have banded together to dig up new evidence for their pet cases.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
Politics & Policy
April 10, 2023
One Angry Man
Governor Greg Abbott wants to overrule a jury’s conviction of Daniel Perry, who murdered a man at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
Politics & Policy
March 29, 2023
“It Smells of Despair”: What’s Going On Inside the Harris County Jail?
After 28 men and women died in custody last year, officials are throwing money at the overcrowded facility. Advocates for inmates say reforms are needed.
News & Politics
March 28, 2023
Forty Years Later, Wrongfully Convicted James Reyos Has Another Day in Court
Those in the office that prosecuted him agree the soft-spoken Native American did not murder a priest back in 1981. His case is back before a district court judge.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Politics & Policy
March 22, 2023
Texas Jails Are Crowded, Understaffed, and Dangerous. The Legislature Is Poised to Send Them More Inmates.
Two bipartisan bills would make it easier for judges to incarcerate defendants before trial. Criminologists say that’s bad for public safety.
Politics & Policy
March 6, 2023
The Texas Right’s Newest Target: Transgender Juvenile Offenders
A bill would require that detention centers house kids based on the sex listed on their birth certificates, contradicting federal guidelines.
Style & Design
February 28, 2023
Incarcerated and in Search of Color
For many women inside Texas prisons, a crumb of color—such as a red ribbon or a floral postage stamp—is against the rules, but worth the potential risk.
Texas History
February 14, 2023
The Killing of José Campos Torres
Decades before the recent police violence in Memphis, a brutally beaten Latino man was tossed by officers into a Houston bayou and drowned. The protests that followed continue to echo in the city to this day.
By Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
February 9, 2023
Running Into Fire: The Legacy of Jeff Blackburn
The cofounder of the Innocence Project of Texas set a model for working with state agencies to investigate potential wrongful convictions.
Politics & Policy
February 3, 2023
The Apache, the Irish Catholic Priest, and a 40-Year-Old Miscarriage of Justice
In 1983 James Reyos was convicted of murder in Odessa, despite having an airtight alibi. Four decades later, he’s still fighting to clear his name.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
January 26, 2023
An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake
The writer of an oddball 2016 crime story recalls emailing with an accountant who skimmed $17 million from Corsicana’s Collin Street Bakery.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How the Texas Rangers Became One of the Most Powerful Forces in the State
Texas’s elite police agency has evolved from a frontier organization to one famed for its expert interrogators. But some high-profile cases have tarnished that reputation.
Politics & Policy
January 13, 2023
Opinion: Lethal Injection Was Once Considered a “Less Barbaric” Form of Execution. Now It’s Clear It’s Inhumane.
After what’s been deemed “the year of the botched execution,” Texas should end the practice.
The Stand Up Desk
January 12, 2023
Three Decades Later, It’s Still Unclear What Killed Tommy Earl Haynes
The career criminal was found dead after a two-day manhunt in East Texas. A writer recalls reporting on the circumstances of Haynes’s death.
True Crime
December 9, 2022
What Drove Juan David Ortiz, a Respected Border Patrol Agent, to Become a Serial Killer?
Ortiz was found guilty of capital murder this week. In 2019, Texas Monthly reported on the string of murders targeting sex workers in Laredo.
News & Politics
December 5, 2022
The Untold Story of the Insular Texas Family That Invaded the U.S. Capitol
The Munns became a national curiosity after five of them were indicted for participating in the insurrection. But the full scope of their malignant behavior is little known—including to the federal prosecutors tasked with investigating their crimes.
The Stand Up Desk
November 21, 2022
The Exoneration of Anthony Graves Still Resonates
Pamela Colloff reflects on her 2010 story about the shoddy police work and prosecutorial misconduct that put an innocent man on death row.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
True Crime
November 7, 2022
The DWI Lawyer Who Represented Cocaine Traffickers—and Paid the Price
Austin attorney Jamie Balagia, a.k.a. “the Dude,” thought that he’d finally hit the big time. Then everything fell apart.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
Politics & Policy
September 23, 2022
During a Summer of Record Heat, Many Prisoners in Texas Struggled to Make It Through the Day Without AC
Seventy percent of Texas prisons do not have AC, except for a small number of ill and elderly inmates, an issue that the Legislature has repeatedly punted on.
News & Politics
September 23, 2022
Bearing Witness at Texas’s First Execution by Lethal Injection
In 1982, Dick J. Reavis chronicled the first government-led lethal injection in world history—and the last moments of Charlie Brooks's life.
Politics & Policy
August 1, 2022
A New Book Exposes the Junk Science That Leads to Wrongful Convictions. Its Unlikely Hero Is a Texan.
On Wednesday in Austin, the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission will interview the author of the latest forensic-science takedown.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
True Crime
January 24, 2022
How San Antonio’s Baby-Killing Nurse Finally Got Justice
Pediatric nurse Genene Jones may have murdered "up to sixty" babies in the 1980s. It took three more decades to ensure she'd stay locked up for life.
News & Politics
December 21, 2021
Two Teens in Klan Outfits Used a Stun Gun on a Black Classmate. Now They Face Hate-Crime Charges.
Some Refugio County locals say it was “kids being kids.” For others, the incident has reopened old wounds.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
December 10, 2021
You Can Stand Your Ground in Texas. Even When You Kill a Cop.
When a homeowner shot and killed a police officer in Midland, the court case that followed pitted two core Texas values against each other.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
November 11, 2021
What Do We Owe Those We’ve Condemned to Die?
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether John Henry Ramirez, a Texan convicted of murder, is entitled to have his pastor by his side when he’s executed.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
October 26, 2021
Why Doesn’t Texas Execute People Anymore?
Texas will put only three inmates to death in 2021. So much for our hang-’em-high reputation.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
October 20, 2021
The State of Texas Tried to Kill Ernest Willis. But He Still Had a Lot of Living to Do.
The wild times of a gentle roughneck who beat the Texas criminal-justice system.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
October 20, 2021
A Brazoria County District Clerk Sorted Jurors by Race. A Black Man Convicted Under Her System Wants a New Trial.
The first defendant to request a new trial because of Rhonda Barchak’s system had a hearing last week.
Politics & Policy
September 7, 2021
Who Killed Criminal Justice Reform in Texas?
Texas was once a model of how to safely and economically move away from mass incarceration. Now the old politics of “law and order” are back.
News & Politics
May 24, 2021
The Ghosts of Comanche Crossing
In 1981 three Black teenagers drowned while in law enforcement custody during a Juneteenth gathering at Lake Mexia. Four decades later, Texas’s proudest Emancipation Day celebration still hasn’t recovered.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
May 19, 2021
Appeals Court Finally Exonerates Lydell Grant—Two Years After DNA Evidence Cleared Him
And 18 months after the police, district attorney, and trial judge all declared the Houston man innocent.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
April 29, 2021
What Good Is a Posthumous Pardon for George Floyd?
Seventeen years after Floyd’s arrest by a notorious Houston cop, his family is seeking a pardon.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Film & TV
February 2, 2021
In El Paso, Joining Border Patrol Offers a Rare Path to Financial Security. But for Some Immigrant Kids, It’s Complicated.
The new documentary ‘At the Ready’ follows the members of Horizon High School’s criminal justice club as they train for Border Patrol careers—and grapple with what that means.
Books
January 28, 2021
Why Is the Death Penalty on the Decline in Texas?
Maurice Chammah’s “Let the Lord Sort Them” is a searing history of the rise and fall of capital punishment.
By Rose Cahalan![Rose Cahalan's Profile Photo]()
News & Politics
November 18, 2020
A Bad Cop’s Best Friend?
One morning in late January 2019, Rhogena Nicholas texted a prayer to her mother, Jo Ann Nicholas, just as she did every day. A widow in her eighties, Jo Ann could no longer make the four-hour drive from Natchitoches, Louisiana, to visit her daughter and her son-in-law, Dennis Tuttle, at
Film & TV
November 6, 2020
Did Melissa Lucio, the First Hispanic Woman on Death Row in Texas, Kill Her Daughter? An Uneven New Documentary Raises More Questions Than Answers.
‘The State of Texas vs. Melissa’ creates empathy for Lucio, but the film lacks a clear and balanced exposition of the deeply troubling facts of the case.
Books
October 28, 2020
This Lawyer Works to Free Incarcerated Victims of the War on Drugs. It All Started With Her Mom’s Arrest.
In a blistering memoir, attorney Brittany K. Barnett explores the traumatic aftermath of the war on drugs.