By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Dallas Police Chief David Brown thanked supporters for their prayers and concerns as he resumed his duties more than two weeks after his son was killed following the slaying of a Lancaster officer and another man.
Brown returned to work Wednesday with a public appearance at a North Texas Crime Commission event in Dallas.
An autopsy found that David Brown Jr. had marijuana and PCP in his system when he fatally shot Lancaster police Officer Craig Shaw and neighbor Jeremy McMillan on June 20. The shootings took place during a domestic dispute at an apartment complex. Officers returned fire and killed Brown Jr.
Chief Brown, who took over the Dallas force in May, said he is "dedicated to the department and to the citizens and making it the safest city in the country."
Need for Texas state jails draws scrutiny
The chairman of the Texas House Corrections Committee says he thinks the state jail system may have outlived its usefulness. Rep. Jim McReynolds of Lufkin says recidivism rates for state jail inmates are higher than for regular Texas prisons. McReynolds says the state may need to consider modifying the original model.
State jails were established by legislators in 1993 for nonviolent drug offenders, thieves and first-time offenders to be housed in separate lockups, with treatment and rehabilitation programs.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire of Houston, who authored the state jail law, said Tuesday that he wants the program to continue and "the system has worked well."
Don't eat fish from parts of Trinity River
Health officials are warning against eating fish caught in parts of the Trinity River in Tarrant, Dallas, Ellis, Kaufman, Henderson, Navarro, Freestone and Anderson counties. Wednesday's advisory is from the Department of State Health Services.
The area includes the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from the Benbrook Reservoir Dam, and the West Fork from the Lake Worth Dam, through the main stem of the river downstream to the U.S. Highway 287 bridge on the Freestone-Anderson county line.
Testing found some fish had elevated levels of dioxins and polychlorinated byphenyls, or PCBs. Long-term consumption may cause cancer and other health problems.
DSHS says elevated levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish do not pose a health risk for people swimming or other water recreation.
4th defendant on trial in child sex ring case
The criminal trial continues for a Mineola man charged with forcing and then videotaping three siblings to dance and engage in sexual acts. Testimony continued Wednesday in Smith County, a day after the trial began with opening statements.
Forty-seven-year-old Dennis Boyd Pittman is one of six defendants facing charges of forcing three siblings as young as 5 to dance and engage in sexual acts before a paying audience in 2005.
An alleged victim testified Tuesday that God told her the sexual acts she previously said happened didn't really occur. After further questioning, the 11-year-old girl said she was given "silly pills" and danced for boys wearing a "sexy outfit."
Mineola is about 85 miles east of Dallas.