The latest Texas death row news from The Texas Tribune.
Relatives of Jones and his victim pleaded for the state to spare his life, but the Texas parole board declined. His lawyer argued that was because Jones was Black, since a white man in a similar situation was spared. Full Story
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals resentenced Juan Lizcano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is at least the sixth death row inmate whose sentence was reduced after the U.S. Supreme Court slammed Texas' methods for determining intellectual disability. Full Story
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Wardlow had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that he was too young to get the Texas death penalty. His execution was the first in Texas to proceed during the pandemic as the coronavirus rages across the state. Full Story
In a 6-3 opinion, the justices said Terence Andrus had ineffective assistance from his lawyer and that it was unclear if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals properly considered whether that could have affected his sentence. Full Story
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Moore was resentenced from the death penalty to life in prison last year after the U.S. Supreme Court determined he was intellectually disabled. Since he had already served 40 years, he was immediately eligible for parole. Full Story
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John Gardner, 64, was put to death for the 2005 murder of his estranged wife. His lawyers had argued the crime wasn't eligible for the death penalty. Full Story
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Fierro was sentenced to death in El Paso in 1980 for the murder of a taxi driver. Full Story
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A Texas court has twice overturned death sentences because of one man’s false testimony on restrictions placed on prisoners. Runnels argued the same man’s testimony should have stopped his death, too. Full Story
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The ruling came hours after the Texas parole board recommended that Gov. Greg Abbott delay Reed’s death for 120 days. Full Story
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For the second time, a court has stopped Murphy's execution over concerns that the Texas prison system's execution procedures discriminate against non-Christian inmates. Full Story
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Rodney Reed's guilt in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites has been questioned for decades. A bipartisan group of lawmakers join national calls to stop his upcoming execution. Full Story
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Halprin's lawyers had requested the stay amid allegations that the judge who handled his case made racist and anti-Semitic comments during his time on the bench. Full Story
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Randall Mays was scheduled to be executed Oct. 16, but the judge removed the death warrant amid questions that Mays may not be mentally competent to be put to death. Full Story
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Crutsinger had pushed to stop his execution based on claims of bad lawyering during his trial and in the appellate process. Full Story
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Swearingen consistently maintained his innocence in the strangling death of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. Texas prosecutors, however, had no doubt he was her killer. Full Story
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Under the measure, defendants who have active psychotic symptoms of certain mental illnesses at the time of the crime would be ineligible for capital punishment. The bill now heads to the more conservative Senate. Full Story
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Johnson was convicted in the 2007 murders of Maria Aparece and Huy Ngo in Harris County, a crime he committed at 18. He was set for execution Thursday before a court ruled that his new lawyer should have more time to look into federal appellate issues. Full Story
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The lower chamber gave initial approval to a bill creating a pretrial process to determine if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled — more than 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court said executing such prisoners is cruel and unusual punishment. Full Story
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King and two other white men were convicted in the brutal East Texas murder of Byrd, who was black. King was the second man executed for the crime; another man is serving a life sentence. Full Story
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The court issued a stay of Thursday's execution after his lawyers argued that Robertson's original trial lawyer discriminated against potential jurors who were black. Full Story
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