Fort Bend parents' lawsuit led to changes calling for court orders before state pulls alleged victims from homes in abuse cases

By JANET ELLIOTT
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

Aug. 27, 2008

AUSTIN — Texas child abuse investigators are being advised to seek court orders before removing children from their home in all but the most dangerous situations, one of several major policy changes demanded by a federal appeals court.

August 26, 2008 - 9:40PM
By Kevin Sieff
The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE - Thirteen years after a shooting left two Brownsville teenagers dead, the suspect in the case has been sentenced.

Ricardo Martinez pleaded guilty to murder on Monday morning and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

His brother, David Martinez, who drove the getaway car after the shooting, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder on Monday. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Jessica Langdon
Wichita Times Record News
Thursday, August 28, 2008

People who have worked on the Varrio Carnales Gang Injunction case were anxiously awaiting news that came this week from the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth — and the news was good for the city, the county and other areas when it comes to this type of action, the gang prosecutor for the city and county said.

“It’s a big deal,” Gang Prosecutor Robert Massey said. “They held in our favor on all of the issues.”

48-year-old gets life prison term without parole

By Mary Ann Cavazos
Corpus Christi Caller Times
Originally published 12:33 a.m., August 28, 2008

A 48-year-old Corpus Christi man was found guilty of capital murder Wednesday and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in the stabbing death of his common-law wife.

By Jane Pratt
Abilene Reporter-News correspondent
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

STEPHENVILLE -- A man was sentenced to a 10 years probation and a $10,000 fine Wednesday after a jury convicted him of bribery in the 266th Judicial District Court.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped 30 of 59 sexual abuse charges against Indian-born celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, as jury selection got under way for his trial in California.

The 29 charges Alexander will be facing in court are related to "the victims that prosecutors are electing to proceed with at this time," said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

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By TOMMY WITHERSPOOON
Waco Tribune-Herald

Monday, August 25, 2008

The sister of the first wife of convicted murderer Billie Wayne Coble testified this morning in his capital murder retrial that Coble acted inappropriately with her on at least four occasions.