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Cary Aspinwall on Muck Rack

Cary Aspinwall

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Dallas
As seen in: The Marshall Project, Medium, MSN, The Guardian, The Washington Post, USA Today, ABC News, Aol, NBC News, Associated Press, POLITICO and
Covers:  courts, jails, prison, corruption, crime, murder, open records
Investigative reporter for @marshallproj in the South. Superfan/ex @dallasnews & co-founder @readfrontier. This land is your land. The records belong to us.
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Fetterman and Oz Battle Over Pennsylvania's Felony Murder Law

Fetterman and Oz Battle Over Pennsylvania's Felony Murder Law

The Marshall Project — PHILADELPHIA - Tyreem Rivers didn't intend to hurt the elderly woman he followed home from the bank. He just wanted her black leather pocketbook stuffed with cash. As she climbed the stoop to her front door, he snatched the purse and ran. He did not shove or hit the woman, court records show.
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They Lost Their Pregnancies. Then Prosecutors Sent Them to Prison.

They Lost Their Pregnancies. Then Prosecutors Sent Them to Prison.

The Marshall Project/The Washington Post — Some were already mothers, excited about having another baby. Others were upset or frightened to find themselves pregnant. All tested positive for drugs. And when these women lost their pregnancies, each ended up in jail.
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Her Baby Died After Hurricane Katrina. Was It a Crime?

Her Baby Died After Hurricane Katrina. Was It a Crime?

The Marshall Project — SHREVEPORT, La. - The night before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, Tiffany Woods and Emmanuel Scott fled the city, driving 320 miles northwest with their four small children. The youngest was two months old: Little Emmanuel. A New Orleans hospital discharged the premature infant about three weeks before Katrina struck.
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Two Strikes and You're in Prison Forever

Two Strikes and You're in Prison Forever

The Marshall Project — ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - On a hot June afternoon in 2011, 69-year-old Eunice Hopkins rolled down the windows of her silver BMW, waiting for the air conditioning to kick in before she left a supermarket parking lot.
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How More Than 50 Women Walked Out of a Prison in Oklahoma

How More Than 50 Women Walked Out of a Prison in Oklahoma

The Marshall Project — TAFT, Oklahoma - Police pulled over Kisha Snider in the tiny Oklahoma town of Boley in 2015; they said she had activated her turn signal too early, made a wide turn and had a burned out light over her license plate. According to the police report, officers found two marijuana cigarettes in her red Mazda.
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'You're gonna kill me!': Dallas police body cam footage reveals the final minutes of Tony Timpa's...

'You're gonna kill me!': Dallas police body cam footage reveals the final minutes of Tony Timpa's...

The Dallas Morning News — Tony Timpa wailed and pleaded for help more than 30 times as Dallas police officers pinned his shoulders, knees and neck to the ground. "You're gonna kill me! You're gonna kill me! You're gonna kill me!" After Timpa fell unconscious, the officers who had him in handcuffs assumed he was asleep and didn't confirm that he was breathing or feel for a pulse.
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Several Boeing 737 Max 8 pilots in U.S. complained about suspected safety flaw

Several Boeing 737 Max 8 pilots in U.S. complained about suspected safety flaw

The Dallas Morning News — A spokesperson for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines told The News that it hasn't received any reports of issues with MCAS from its pilots, "nor do any of our thousands of data points from the aircraft indicate any issues with MCAS."
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Time Bomb | An investigation into how Atmos Energy's natural gas keeps blowing up Texas homes

Time Bomb | An investigation into how Atmos Energy's natural gas keeps blowing up Texas homes

The Dallas Morning News — After getting home from his overnight job, Domingo Mendez holds his infant son, Mateo. In the background, his wife, Juliana, prepares breakfast for their older son, Pablo, in their Dallas kitchen. Domingo, Juliana and Pablo were badly burned in 2011 when their home exploded after a gas leak. (Smiley N.
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Police responded to his 911 call for help. He died. What happened to Tony Timpa?

Police responded to his 911 call for help. He died. What happened to Tony Timpa?

The Dallas Morning News — One muggy night in August 2016, Tony Timpa began to panic. A beefy redhead who grew up in Rockwall, the 32-year-old executive had driven his Mercedes to a seedy stretch of West Mockingbird Lane, to the parking lot of a porn store. From there, he called 911 and said he was afraid and needed help.
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As women go to jail in record numbers, who's watching out for their kids? No one

As women go to jail in record numbers, who's watching out for their kids? No one

The Dallas Morning News — At age 12, Kylia Booker knew enough to keep her head down and her mouth shut. Braid your sisters' pigtails. Get them on the school bus. Walk half a mile to the convenience store to buy groceries with the food-stamp card. Don't let anyone know you and the babies are home alone 'cause Mama is in jail again.
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Why Dallas County can set $150,000 bail for a $105 shoplifting charge - and how taxpayers lose

Why Dallas County can set $150,000 bail for a $105 shoplifting charge - and how taxpayers lose

The Dallas Morning News — One of the most effective changes, advocates say, would be to let eligible people out through what is called a personal-recognizance bond, which is a promise to attend court hearings. In theory, personal recognizance bonds are possible in Dallas County - 98 were granted in October, for example.
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Governor's attorney wanted wrong drug used in execution

Governor's attorney wanted wrong drug used in execution

The Frontier — "Google it." That was the advice of Gov. Mary Fallin's former general counsel, Steve Mullins, to the Oklahoma Attorney General's office during a heated debate in September 2015 about whether one fatal drug could be legally substituted for another, mere hours before the state was supposed to execute inmate Richard Glossip.
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Two truths & a lie: What records show in Richard Glossip case

Two truths & a lie: What records show in Richard Glossip case

The Frontier — As Richard Glossip faces execution on Wednesday, what do court records and his own words reveal about his case? Plus, his accomplice, Justin Sneed, speaks exclusively to The Frontier. This story was written as part of The Next To Die, a multi-newsroom collaboration tracking upcoming executions.
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Shadow of Doubt: Records show mistakes, questionable evidence in woman's overturned murder case

Shadow of Doubt: Records show mistakes, questionable evidence in woman's overturned murder case

Tulsa World — Michelle Murphy served 20 years in prison for the brutal stabbing death of her infant son. Murphy has been exonerated and declared innocent by a judge. But the question remains: Did police and prosecutors investigate all possible suspects?
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Fatal Flaws

Fatal Flaws

Tulsa World — This is three-part series on problems with Oklahoma executions revealed in the wake of the April 29 botched execution of Clayton Lockett. While the execution caused an outcry over pain Lockett may have felt, part one of this series tells the story of Lockett's victim and the heinous crime that led to his death sentence. It was compiled using records and interviews, including the transcript from the murder trial of Clayton Lockett, his 1999 police interrogation video, archived news reports and public records.
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Grand Shadows: Lake's history filled with crime, corruption

Grand Shadows: Lake's history filled with crime, corruption

Tulsa World — GRAND LAKE O' THE CHEROKEES - Politicians headed to prison on corruption convictions usually slink out of town or get sent packing by angry constituents. Back in 1982, Delaware County Commissioner H.B. Richie got a party. Before he reported to federal prison for taking kickbacks, locals threw him a hog fry gala in a show of gratitude. His parting words: "I regret getting caught, but I don't regret a hell of a lot of what I done." "If you are going to do anything, don't get caught."
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Becoming Katie | Tulsa World

Becoming Katie | Tulsa World

Tulsa World — Winner of the 2012 Freedom Forum and American Society of News Editors Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity. Recipient of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's Excellence in Feature Writing award. Runner-up in the project/series category of the Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism.
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What happened to Edie?

What happened to Edie?

Tulsa World — EUCHA - This was the plan: Greg Williams would drive to Delaware County, call Edwina King and then she would call him back on a pay phone, so they could arrange a secret meeting place. King was holding evidence for the Tulsa attorney, proof that women's allegations of sexual abuse at the Delaware County jail weren't attempts by female inmates to get back at guards. It was Oct. 16, 2008, and no one believed the women's claims that they were being raped, sexually assaulted and groped by men who worked at the jail in Jay. Save for 40-year-old Edie King, who had been in jail a few days earlier that summer with some of the women. They trusted her, so they wrote a letter and sneaked it out past the guards, asking King for help. Now Williams was trying to help the women, assembling allegations for a lawsuit - but on that crisp fall afternoon, he realized something had gone terribly wrong. He drove the winding highway to Delaware County and called King, but she never called back.
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Murder was the case: Though 13 and not the shooter, Jesil Wilson got life in prison. Was justice ...

Murder was the case: Though 13 and not the shooter, Jesil Wilson got life in prison. Was justice ...

Tulsa World — Murder was the case: Though 13 and not the shooter, Jesil Wilson got life in prison. Was justice served?
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Judge, slain woman's son say it's time to free Jimmie Dean Stohler in 1982 crossbow killing

Judge, slain woman's son say it's time to free Jimmie Dean Stohler in 1982 crossbow killing

Tulsa World — Kill Michele, and I'll buy you a Ken's pizza. It was a joke between two men, until it became real. In the end, Jimmie Dean Stohler told investigators, Michele Rae Powers' life was traded for $400 and a crossbow. The 30-year-old single mother had been fighting for custody of Joel, her 4-year-old son fathered by Robert Doss, a Tulsa police officer with whom she'd had a tumultuous six-year relationship. Doss obtained custody of their infant son after he alleged Powers abused Joel.
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