Tag: death row

The issue of how religious advisors can attend condemned prisoners might seem like a trivial one. However, it has now led to the third postponement of an execution in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution of John Ramirez this month nearly three hours after he was slated to die. It marked the third…

A defendant’s mental illness makes him or her less morally culpable of a crime and should be taken into consideration as a reason to avoid the death penalty, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. However, states can and do execute defendants who suffer from mental illnesses. Texas is no exception. The Death Penalty Information Center lists…

The highest court in the nation has again overruled the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a death penalty case, siding with a Houston man on death row for a double killing. The court sent Terence Andrus’ case back to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for further review. In a 6-3 ruling, the court…

COVID-19, the Coronavirus, has caused havoc and brought normal life to a standstill across the United States. It also led to the halt of the latest execution scheduled in Texas. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in the state, halted an execution slated for this week because of the coronavirus. The…

Cesar Fierro spent four decades on death row in Texas. The threat of the death penalty was abruptly removed in late December when Texas’ highest ranking court decided he was given faulty jury instructions at his trial. Judges at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated the Mexican national’s death sentence in December, citing incorrect…

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a temporary reprieve to a Texas inmate facing the death penalty because his spiritual adviser was not present has sparked a feud among the justices. Patrick Murphy was among a group of inmates who escaped from a Texas prison in 2000. He committed a series of…

In recent years, many forensic techniques have been discredited as new information cast doubt on their reliability. Texas has a trailblazing state law allowing courts to overturn convictions in cases where the scientific evidence that led to the original verdict has since changed or been discredited. Although the law is not often used, it has…

Texas Governor Spares The Life of Death Row Inmate Thomas Whitaker It’s extremely rare for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend a lesser sentence for a death row inmate facing execution but it happened this month. Shortly afterwards, state Governor Greg Abbott accepted the state parole board’s unusual and unanimous recommendation to…

A series of proposed executions in Texas have been delayed or derailed over the last year due to legal appeals or other circumstances. The latest death row inmate to face an 11th hour reprieve was Houston serial killer, Anthony Shore, who was just hours away from execution when the process was halted. Officials stopped the…

The U.S. Supreme Court has sent the strongest signal yet that race should not be a factor in sentencing in a death row appeal from Texas. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed condemned Texas murderer Duane Buck the right to request a new court hearing on his death sentence. In a 6-2 decision, the…