Panetti Case Highlights Cracks in Execution Law
The complex and protracted path Scott Panetti's death row case has traveled illustrates how few safeguards Texas has to protect mentally ill killers from being executed. Full Story
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![Death row inmate Scott Panetti.]()
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Texas Appeals Court Stays Julius Murphy Execution
East Texas inmate Julius Murphy's execution is off the November calendar – for now. The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals on Monday stayed the 36-year-old's execution, after his legal team presented claims of prosecutorial misconduct in his 1998 capital murder trial. Full Story
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![Julius Murphy was sentenced to death row in 1998.]()
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Death Row Inmate Claims Witnesses Coerced
Attorneys for East Texas inmate Julius Jerome Murphy, scheduled for execution in early November for killing a stranded motorist, claimed in court papers filed Friday that prosecutors threatened and coerced witnesses to unjustly convict him. Full Story
![Julius Murphy was sentenced to death row in 1998.]()
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God & Governing: Life
Check out "God & Life" — part 3 of our "God & Governing" documentary-style series — to see how lawmakers' personal faith guides the abortion fight in the Texas Legislature. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Texas Prisons Deny Making Execution Drugs
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Friday shot down allegations that it is manufacturing its own hard-to-find execution drugs after federal defense attorneys in an Oklahoma death row case accused the Texas prison system of doing exactly that. Full Story
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![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
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Panetti Lawyers Want His Competence Evaluated
Lawyers for death row inmate Scott Panetti will get a chance Wednesday to argue that their client's ongoing mental illness — and the state's failure to evaluate his mental state — should forestall his execution for two 1992 killings. Full Story
![Death row inmate Scott Panetti.]()
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New Crime Lab Protocol Leads to Reviews of "Mixed DNA" Evidence
A new standard, used by crime labs in Texas and nationwide when analyzing multiple sets of DNA taken from evidence, has prompted questions and a review of court cases dating back to 1999. Full Story
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Updated: Faces of Death Row in Texas
Ten inmates have been executed in Texas this year; 253 others are living with a death sentence. Revisit our database of these men and women, filterable by age, race, sex and the length of their stay on death row. Full Story
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Jailhouse Snitch Claims Secret Deal in Death Case
A second jailhouse informant claims he was offered a secret deal to testify in a death penalty case by former Navarro County prosecutor John Jackson, who has been accused of similar misconduct in the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Full Story
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![The execution chamber seen from one of two witness viewing rooms at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville Unit.]()
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TDCJ Official: Supreme Court's Ruling Won't Impact Texas Executions
A U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday that upheld the use of an execution drug used in Oklahoma will not change how death row inmates in Texas are executed, according to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman. Full Story
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Visualization: A Shrinking Texas Death Row
The number of inmates on Texas’ death row is falling. At its peak in 1999, 460 men and women were living with a death sentence in Texas, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Today, there are 260. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Faces of Death Row: A New Tribune Data Tool
To add transparency to the state's capital punishment system, the Tribune is unveiling a new tool for readers: Faces of Death Row. It profiles all 261 inmates facing execution, summarizes their crimes and allows filtering by race, age, sex and years spent on death row. Full Story
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Get a Closer Look at Texas' Death Row
There are currently 261 inmates living on death row in Texas, the state with the most active execution chamber by far. Use this interactive to search through these men and women by the length of their stay, race, age and sex. Full Story
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On Death Row for 31 Years, Inmate Executed
A death row inmate who has proclaimed his innocence for three decades was executed Wednesday night in Huntsville. Lester Bower, 67, became the oldest death row inmate executed in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. Full Story
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![Lester Bower, on death row in Texas for 31 years, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday night for the murder of four, including two law enforcement officers.]()
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House Backs Senate Bill Making Execution Drug Providers Secret
Legislation that would keep the names of execution drug providers secret is headed to the governor’s office after the Texas House gave final approval on Tuesday to a Senate measure. Full Story
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Inmate Set for Execution Seeks Supreme Court Stay
Lawyers for a Texas inmate convicted of capital murder in the 1999 stabbing death of a prison guard have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his Tuesday execution. Full Story
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![Robert Lynn Pruett, scheduled to be executed Tuesday night in Huntsville for the 1999 murder of a Bee County prison guard.]()
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Roundup: Death Penalty, End-of-Life Care, Shark Fins
In the Roundup: State lawmakers kept busy this week advancing a slew of items in both chambers – including a measure on the trade of shark fins. And they considered several controversial bills in committees. Full Story
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Lawmaker Says Death Penalty Could End if Drug Suppliers Revealed
If the names of the compounding pharmacies providing execution drugs to Texas officials are made public, it could end the death penalty, state Rep. John Smithee told a house committee on Wednesday. Full Story
![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
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The Playlist: Cruise Control
With a late night tweet, U.S. Sen Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president then immediately hit the road, so we start our playlist with “Cruise Control” by the Dixie Dregs. Full Story
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Lawyer's One-Year Banishment Leads to Showdown
When the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals banished a prominent death row attorney this year, it set in motion an interesting showdown not only with the lawyer, David Dow, but one with its own glossier sibling, the Texas Supreme Court. Full Story
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![Attorney David Dow.]()
Credit: Facebook/Bob Daemmrich