By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – A wrongly convicted man who spent more than nine years in prison may continue his lawsuit against a Dallas-area police detective whom he says framed him.
Donald Wayne Good was convicted of a charge relating to the 1983 rape of a suburban Dallas woman. He served nine years of a life sentence before his 1993 release, but a 2004 DNA test cleared him of the crime.
Good says he was framed by Irving police detective Fred Curtis, who allegedly doctored a mugshot and included it in a lineup in an unrelated rape case.
Curtis denies the allegations and argues that he's shielded from civil action by the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects government workers performing their official duties. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied Curtis' appeal Tuesday.
Abbott pushed health coverage law in Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott, who joined a court case challenging the new federal health care law, pushed for a health insurance plan in Texas for parents required to provide medical coverage for their kids.
That requirement covers youngsters in the state's child support collection system who also receive government aid for the poor.
Abbott contends there's no hypocrisy on his part because the child support insurance law and the new federal law signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday are quite different.
His spokesman says the state plan Abbott backed doesn't impose a new mandate.
But Abbott's election opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, says Abbott has been accepting of requirements that some parents buy health coverage. She says he's promoting broad health care mandates.
South Texas jury acquits Brownsville mayor
A jury has acquitted Brownsville's mayor of theft and other felony charges surrounding the deposit of a city check to a vendor in his own personal account.
The Cameron County jury deliberated about three hours before finding Pat Ahumada Jr. not guilty Wednesday of felony theft, abuse of official capacity and misapplication of fiduciary property.
The verdict comes in the second trial of the March 2009 indictment against Ahumada. The first trial in October ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial.
The check, issued in October 2008 by the city to a vendor, ended up in the mayor's personal business account.
Attorneys for Ahumada had said the deposit to the personal account was a mistake, but prosecutors on Tuesday claimed Ahumada was desperate for money. As for Ahumada, he denied under oath that he stole the check.