Tresa Baldas

When Kentucky coal miner Fairon Johnson flipped a switch to increase the water pressure in his shower, it ignited an explosion that badly burned his face. That accident has landed him a $270 million jury award -- the largest ever in Kentucky. A jury ordered Kentucky West Virginia Gas and Equitable Resources Inc. to pay after hearing testimony that explosive gas seeping from an old gas well allegedly caused the blast.

A Detroit man with a history of beating pregnant women allegedly attacked a third victim, one day after getting paroled.

A fired Detroit People Mover official helped a businessman bill the city for $300K in work that was never performed.

Feds say two researchers lied when they arrived at Detroit Metro Airport, claiming to be hauling equipment when they really had dangerous viruses.

In two weeks, three local women nearly died at the hands of abusive men, including two who were recently paroled, records show.

Forget doing behind-the-scenes work on big commercial cases. Five associates at Houston's Andrews Kurth will get to play prosecutor for the next 19 weeks, handling misdemeanor criminal cases through the city of Houston's Volunteer Prosecutor Program. The five associates started training for the program this week, learning the docket and the court system in Houston, whose municipal courthouse has one of the busiest dockets in the nation.

With the number of active innocence projects continually increasing, attorneys' attention has shifted to many of the practical matters that are consistently called into question by the review processes.

CRIME Tresa Baldas Detroit Free Press Aug. 7, 2026, 3:54 p.m. ET Hear this story

This story has been updated with new information. Detroit police say they have arrested a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a man

CRIME Tresa Baldas Detroit Free Press Aug. 10, 2026, 5:28 p.m. ET Hear this story