Naked City

There's nothing like a little hand-holding in a time of crisis. At this June 26 event, Austin residents joined hands across the sand on Auditorium Shores as part of a world day of action to protect beaches and support the Gulf of Mexico, currently under siege by the BP oil disaster. The event also provided an opportunity to promote alternative energy sources in place of offshore drilling. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Dunn Is Done

On May 13, 2009, former Austin Police Detec­tive Chris Dunn wrote an e-mail suggesting a review of Nathaniel Sanders II's probation records as part of an internal inquiry into Sanders' death at the hands of former APD Officer Leonardo Quintana. "Just as the face of Helen of Troy launched 1000 ships, this e-mail launched an investigation that yielded thousands of pages of statements and reports." So wrote Thomas Cipolla, the hearing examiner who decided this week that Dunn will not be getting his job back. Dunn was fired last year for sending what his superiors called a biased e-mail to APD colleagues and for failing to ask a series of questions of Quintana during an IA interview, actions that demonstrated his lack of impartiality and brought discredit to the department, Chief Art Acevedo said then. Dunn appealed that decision at a weeklong hearing before Cipolla in April – to no avail. Dunn's actions have "obviously undermined the integrity and credibility of the APD," drawing into question the department's ability to police itself. "His actions were more serious than say pulling a traffic ticket out of the system for a friend or accepting a free meal," Cipolla wrote. "The consequences are also more serious in that his actions have opened the door to assumption that any IA investigation may be corrupt from the outset," he continued. "This is a serious matter with serious consequences for which serious discipline is justified." Also last week, the city won a summary judgment removing it as a defendant in a federal civil rights suit filed against the city and Officer Quin­tana by Sanders' family. Quintana, however, will remain a defendant; the trial of that case is slated to begin July 19. – Jordan Smith

Hall Hearing Continues

Travis County prosecutor Allison Wetzel is asking a nine-man, three-woman jury to hand Laura Ashley Hall the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for her role in covering up the gruesome 2005 killing of former UT student Jennifer Cave. At press time, jurors were still hearing evidence in Hall's resentencing. Hall was convicted in 2007 of hindering the apprehension of her friend Colton Pitonyak, who was convicted of killing Cave in his West Campus apartment in August 2005. For her role in the partial dismemberment of Cave's body, she was also convicted of tampering with evidence. Hall's original sentence of five years in prison for the tampering charge was overturned, and a new sentencing hearing ordered, when the 3rd Court of Appeals found that prosecutors had failed in their duty to hand over evidence to Hall's defenders. Prosecutors are urging the jury to impose the 10-year max for tampering, plus one year for the hindering charge; Hall's attorney has asked the jury to impose probation. The hearing is expected to conclude this week. – J.S.

Death Penalty on Trial

Harris County District Judge Kevin Fine has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 8 to consider whether Texas' death penalty system fails to protect against the possibility of executing an innocent person. In March, on a motion filed by attorneys for John Edward Green Jr. (facing death for the 2008 robbery and murder of Huong Thien Nguyen in Houston), Fine ruled that capital punishment as practiced in Texas is unconstitutional for failing to adequately protect the innocent. Fine quickly rescinded that original order, but he last week granted Green's attorneys the right to a hearing on the matter this fall. Green's attorney Casey Keirnan told the Associated Press that he expects the hearing could last up to two weeks and that death penalty experts from around the country will likely testify. "I think everybody in the United States would agree that the possibility exists" that an innocent person has already been executed, he said. – J.S.