Daily Police Blotter

By ELVIRA SAKMARI

Updated 9:13 PM CDT, Sat, Sep 26, 2009

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Here's a daily list of recent activities drawing the attention of North Texas law enforcement. List compiled on Sept. 26, 2009.

DALLAS POLICE SHOOTING LEAVES SUSPECT DEAD
A man is dead after a Dallas police officer allegedly shot and killed him in the aftermath of a struggle. Dallas police spokeswoman Senior Cpl. Janice M. Crowther said in a statement Saturday that officers responded to a suspicious person call just before 10 a.m. Saturday. When police arrived they saw two suspects and one of them tried to get away. The officer, who wasn't identified, ordered the suspect to stop and they later got into a struggle. The statement said the suspect grabbed the officer's Mace and the officer fired one shot to free himself. Robert W. Taylor, 44, was hit in the chest and taken to Baylor University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The officer wasn't injured and has been placed on routine leave.

PANEL REVIEWS RULING THAT LED TO EXECUTION
More than five years after Cameron Todd Willingham offered a profanity-filled tirade as his final act from the Texas death chamber, his murder case refuses to die. Willingham was executed in 2004 for the deaths of his three young daughters in a 1991 fire at their Corsicana home. An arson finding by investigators was key to his conviction. The Innocence Project, which investigates possible wrongful convictions, questioned Willingham's guilt. Now the Texas Forensic Science Commission will review a report Friday from an expert it hired who concluded the arson ruling was faulty. Willingham's prosecutor still believes in Willingham's guilt. But Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck says there's no longer any doubt an innocent person was executed.

VOLUNTEERS CLEANUP GRAFFITI IN DALLAS
Dozens of students from A.W. Brown Charter School volunteered their Saturday to cleaning up graffiti on Glenfield Ave. More than 100 students painted over the graffiti in an effort to clear up eyesores. Unfortunately business owners in the area say taggers come back within 24 to 48 hours after the graffiti is painted over. Dallas councilwoman Delia Jasso says she hopes to educate parents and students about the punishment for tagging. Kids caught with pain used for graffiti face $500 in fines, for the tagger and their parents along with community service.