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HOUSTON (AP) —
A man charged in the deaths of a couple and six children at a Houston home has professed love for one of the victims — his son — and says he thought the children were "growing up to be monsters."
David Conley was being held without bond Wednesday on capital murder counts. Authorities say Conley formerly was in a relationship with the children's mother, Valerie Jackson, and one boy was Conley's son.
Conley gave jailhouse interviews to several Houston television stations, saying the children had been disrespectful to him and weren't being raised properly. He also said Jackson's husband was harassing him, and previous charges of domestic violence against him were "all lies."
He's next scheduled for court Sept. 15. Authorities haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —
A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes that the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger.
Arlington officer Brad Miller, 49, could also face criminal charges once police complete their investigation, Police Chief Will Johnson said.
Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday morning, Miller pursued 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Johnson said.
Instead of helping to set up a perimeter around the showroom, Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. Taylor did not comply. Instead, he began "actively advancing toward Officer Miller," Johnson said.
Miller's field training officer, who had followed Miller into the showroom, drew his own Taser. The training officer heard a single pop of what he thought was Miller's Taser, but Miller actually had drawn his service weapon and fired it at Taylor, who is believed to have been 7 to 10 feet away from the officer, Johnson said. After Taylor continued to approach, Miller fired his gun three more times.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) —
Texas inmate Daniel Lee Lopez wants to be put to death Wednesday evening for striking and killing a police lieutenant with an SUV during a chase more than six years ago.
Despite his wishes and court rulings that he was competent to make that decision, attorneys for Lopez are taking their fight to halt the punishment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lopez's "obvious and severe mental illness" was responsible for his desire to use the legal system for suicide, illustrating his "well-documented history of irrational behavior and suicidal tendencies," attorney David Dow told the high court. Dow also argued the March 2009 crime was not a capital murder because Lopez didn't intend to kill Corpus Christi Lt. Stuart Alexander.
Alexander, 47, was standing in a grassy area on the side of a highway where he had put spike strips when he was struck by the sport utility vehicle Lopez was fleeing in.
"I've accepted my fate," Lopez, 27, said last week from death row. "I'm just ready to move on."
WASHINGTON (AP) —
For six and a half years, the White House has had a quick comeback to questions about its yet-to-be-announced decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline: Talk to the State Department.
Under a George W. Bush-era executive order, oil pipelines crossing U.S. borders require a presidential permit, setting off a government-wide review that the State Department coordinates. President Barack Obama, in no rush to anger either environmentalists or energy advocates, has deflected criticism about the long-delayed decision by arguing that his administration is merely carrying out his Republican predecessor's directive in the ordinary way.
But an Associated Press review of every cross-border pipeline application since 2004 shows that the Keystone reviews has been anything but ordinary.
Since April 2004, when Bush signed his order, the federal government has taken an average of 478 days to give a yes or no to all other applications — less than a year and a half. The company hoping to build Keystone has been waiting for a decision for nearly 7 years — or more than five times the average.
And while the State Department does bear responsibility for reviewing potential pipelines, former Bush White House officials who helped craft the policy say it was never intended that the final decision would be outsourced. After all, it's called a presidential permit. The revamped process Bush created was intended to speed up, not slow down, permits for major infrastructure projects, those officials said.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -
The brother of a college football player killed by police at a Texas car dealership has questioned whether deadly force was necessary and is puzzled by security footage showing the unarmed 19-year-old breaking into a car and crashing his vehicle into the glass showroom wall.
The Texas power grid operator said electric demand hit another record high on Monday as consumers cranked up their air conditioners to escape a brutal heat wave.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
State officials say they've complied with a court order and amended the death certificate of a man to include the name of his same-sex spouse.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement Thursday that John Stone-Hoskins of Conroe has been added to the death certificate for James Stone-Hoskins, who died in January, months after the couple married in New Mexico.
John Stone-Hoskins said in a federal court filing this week that the certificate initially listed him as a "significant other."
He argued the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision on gay marriage in June means state records such as death certificates should recognize such unions.
A judge agreed, requiring State Health Services to amend the Stone-Hoskins certificate and others.
The agency is responsible for maintaining vital records.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —
The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to reconsider her ruling calling for the immediate release of children and their mothers caught entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico, saying recent changes mean federal authorities are no longer violating a ban on holding immigrant children in secure facilities.
In late July, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the release of all children from immigrant family detention centers "without unnecessary delay," along with any mothers not deemed a flight or national security risk.
Justice Department lawyers late Thursday filed documents at the California Central District Court urging Gee to not implement her decision, saying the Department of Homeland Security intends to turn the centers into short-term processing facilities and that her order "addressed practices and policies that no longer exist."
The government says detention time has been reduced to only a few weeks for most families, and that reducing it further would hinder processing asylum claims and could force the separation of mothers from their children in the event of another wave of migration.
Moreover, further limits on detention "would heighten the risk of another surge in illegal migration," the filing said, "by incentivizing adults to bring children with them on their dangerous journey as a means to avoid detention and gain access to the interior of the United States."
