Ex-executive in Stanford empire to change plea

  HOUSTON -- A former executive in the empire of disgraced Texas financier R. Allen Stanford heads to federal court in Houston to enter a new plea.

Former Stanford chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt has been awaiting trial after pleading not guilty three years ago to conspiracy, fraud and obstruction charges. The trial docket shows she's scheduled to enter a new plea Thursday in Houston before U.S. District Judge David Hittner.

There was no indication what the pleas would be. Defense attorney Chris Flood of Houston didn't return messages left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Stanford was sentenced earlier this month to 110 years in prison after his conviction on fraud-related charges for bilking investors out of more than $7 billion. Executives Gilbert Lopez and Mark Kuhrt await trials.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Proposed change to help ease rape kit DNA testing backlog

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A woman raped as a child is speaking out. Critical evidence in the attack sat in a room for more than two decades before it was tested. And by that time, her attacker had struck again and again.

For years we've been telling you about a massive backlog in the testing of rape kits. Victims have been living in fear, when the evidence that could lock up their attacker is set aside and stored. Now lawmakers are working on a possible solution.

In the city of Houston, there are more than 6,600 rape kits collecting dust on a police shelf. They've never been tested. This legislation aims to change that.

Rape survivor Lavinia Masters said, "If they had found him after he assaulted me, because a lot of the women were after me, maybe they could have stopped him."

Masters was raped when she was 13 years old.

She recalled, "A stranger broke into our home one night and raped me at knifepoint. My parents were sleeping upstairs. My siblings were on the floor."

For more than 21 years her rape kit went untested. Evidence untested and a crime unsolved. Nationwide there are 400,000 cases like hers. US Senator John Cornyn is introducing a bill to eliminate that backlog.

Sen. Cornyn said, "What I want to do is make sure that more of the money that the federal government spends -- it will be roughly $117 million this next year alone -- goes to testing these untested kits."

Right now roughly 40 percent of federal dollars go toward ending the rape backlog. That's under the Debbie Smith Act. The SAFER Act would amend current law, requiring that 75 percent of funds be used to analyze untested DNA evidence. It's money Masters says would be well spent.

She said, "No price tag should be put on my sanity, on my life, on my living, on my life after, on my happiness."

Senator Cornyn is touting Houston's efforts to help rape victims and shrink the backlog in this city.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Lawmakers vow change after Blomberg verdict

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Texas Congressman Al Green says he wants the way jurors are chosen to change after the controversial acquittal of former HPD Officer Andrew Blomberg.

Blomberg was found not guilty earlier this month in the beating of teenage burglary suspect Chad Holley, but the fact that the jury was all white has many calling for a change.

Local lawmakers told us Harris County is too diverse to have a one-race jury in any trial and they're they are appealing to state and federal agencies to review what happened.

"I do not support unchallenged one-race juries in Harris County," said Congressman Al Green outside the federal courthouse downtown on Friday.

That's the message Congressman Green and other elected officials gave during the press conference. Each member of the group says it's concerned over how the first of four trials involving this videotaped beating of Holley was handled.

"In Harris County, achieving a one-race jury trial in the Chad Holley case shocks the conscious," said Green.

Congressman Green announced he met with members of the Department of Justice last week, asking them to review circumstances over how the Holley arrest was tried. That meeting, just days after the all-white Harris County jury found former HPD Officer Andrew Blomberg not guilty of official oppression for kicking the teen burglary suspect two times.

"We live in a world where it is not enough for things to be right," said Green. "They must also look right."

Other politicians are now criticizing the District Attorney's office for failing to challenge the jury selection process in a county with over 2.5 million minorities. Last week, DA Pat Lykos told Eyewitness News the initial pool had more than 60 prospective jurors, which was then cut to 19.

Lykos told us there was nothing they could do when the defense struck two black jurors for cause.

"I will tell the DA I don't want a 75-person panel," said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. "I want a 300-person panel."

The DA's office has not yet responded to our request for comment about Friday's news conference.

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Need a Change in Climate? - Move to Houston Midtown Apartments

Mayor Parker unveils change to drainage fee

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston Mayor Annise Parker says she wants to make sure people pay the drainage fee they voted for, even if that means the city can't raise all the money that was expected.

Ask an average Houstonian how much their drainage fee may be and you often get something like this.

"I have no clue. How much is it normally? Ten dollars, 3 or 4 dollars?" wondered Houstonian Shynae Godfrey.

Initially, Mayor Parker told voters that the median drainage fee would be about $5 per month, but in reality, the first round of numbers puts it closer to $8. So Mayor Parker on Thursday announced a new plan.

"The Rebuild Houston initiative itself may bring in fewer dollars, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a great program," she said. "I'm very supportive of it, but this is about maintaining a level of fairness."

In the revamped drainage fee structure, there will be an 1,000 square feet impervious cover credit for every piece of property in town, bringing the median monthly home fee to $5.

Critics remain unsatisfied.

"This whole system has been a fix as you go instead of a pay as you go and we don't think that's the way to do business in public policy," said opponent David Welch.

But Mayor Parker says drainage fee opponents will never be satisfied.

"This is not about addressing critics. This is not about addressing the people who don't want this program, worked against this program, will never never agree this is an important program," said Mayor Parker.

The revamped structure is expected to raise $15 million less a year than the original plan of $125 million a year for drainage. Voters we talked to say they just hope all that money actually makes an impact.

"I'm never in favor of paying more money for anything, but if it supports the city and it's what the city needs, then absolutely I'm in favor," said Houstonian Bev Taylor.

If you get a drainage bill and it's much larger than what you expected, you're asked to contact the city to contest it. The city admits there could be mistakes.

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