John Council

June 09, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Current and former prosecutors who were responsible for sending 17 men to prison for years — a total of 282 years to be exact — have rarely been heard from. So Texas Lawyer filed an open-records request with the Dallas County DA's office to receive the names of all 29 prosecutors who tried and helped convict the 17 men. Notes former ADA Joan Marshall: "I talk with other former prosecutors, and it's as if we're heathens for all of these cases. And we weren't." Here's what prosecutors in the cases had to say.

By John Council

35 minute read

November 13, 2000 | Law.com

With Texas' highest courts already under Republican control, the GOP picked up four more seats on the mid-level appellate courts. Now the question is whether judicial decisions will be impacted by the fact Republicans will hold nearly two of every three seats on the state's mid-level appellate courts. "In certain politically charged cases, it will have an effect," says law professor James Paulsen.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Mary Alice Robbins, and John Council

13 minute read

December 22, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

Michael Ramsey, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Pierce, Joe Jamail, Donald Godwin and Mike Gruber, State Bar of Texas chief disciplinary counsel Dawn Miller, Jeff Blackburn and Mitchell Katine

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Mary Alice Robbins, Miriam Rozen, John Council

44 minute read

January 10, 2000 | Law.com

By SUSAN BORRESON and JOHN COUNCIL

14 minute read

July 11, 2005 | Texas Lawyer

Should U.S. Attorney General Alberto "Al" Gonzales become President George W. Bush's first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, senators reviewing his qualifications will no doubt look at the time Gonzales spent on the Texas Supreme Court.

By John Council

26 minute read

November 11, 2002 | Texas Lawyer

In the Nov. 5 general election, Steven Wayne Smith -- a political outsider who turned off Republican financial backers by beating an appointee of Gov. Rick Perry's in the GOP primary last March -- easily defeated Democrat Margaret Mirabal for Place 4 on the high court. Smith's win proves that money and endorsements -- of which he had little -- are less important than the party label in Texas' statewide judicial races, several political analysts say.

By John Council and Mary Alice Robbins

11 minute read